Blades And Shadows
by Soulblazer87
Summary: A young Naruto comes across a strange book. In it lies the story, knowledge, power and essense of one of the most dangerous assassins to ever walk the Multiverse, Firavel Duali, the first, and greatest, Shadow Elf. NarutoxDnd crossover.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1: A Fatefull Discovery_

Naruto walked along the forest meadow. He was a young, happy child for the most part. Out there, his blond locks would move freely with the wind, his nose was filled with various wonderful scents, his bare skin was caressed by all sorts of wonderful sensations, from lilting winds to silverish flowers. It was a wonderful time for the child, away from the people that so much disliked him. But it was more than that. Naruto always, _always, _had this special connection with nature around him. Flowers would seem to bow and animals left him in peace. Maybe it was his innocence, maybe something more, something divine. Naruto would never know, nor care for the most part.

It was a wonderful place. A lake, with a small waterfall feeding it. Some rocks, appearing like protrusions of silver with the play of light in the water, adorned the bank. A fox lapped up some water, looked at Naruto and promptly went back to slating it's thirst, unconcerned. A bird landed on the kid's shoulder. It pecked him gently in the ear once, let out a single note of utmost clarity and flew away. The place was magical to Naruto, even if noone would have believed him. So, the boy decided to take a dip into the small lake. It seemed safe enough. Not to mention it would relieve some of the heat this summer had brought. Without further ado then, the boy removed his clothes, placed them on a branch and dove in.

The child played around a bit, enjoying the cool feelings, the games the fish would play with him. As he dove once more under the water, something caught the child's eye. It was a box, unlike any he had ever seen. Overrun with childish curiosity, he grabbed it and, with some exertion, pulled it ashore. It seemed old, very, very old. Almost older than Ji-chan, the Hokage. It was covered in leaves that Naruto had never seen before, wrapped in ropes more supple than he had ever seen before.

Naruto looked around for a way to open it and he found it. It was a small latch which easily came undone. The top part of the box fell off easily enough, revealing the inside. It was covered in wax, making sure that whatever was inside would be protected and preserved. In the middle was what seemed to be a large velvet bag, shaped much like a pillow. On the pillow was the largest, weirdest book little Naruto had ever seen. It was a tome, leatherbound, thick and heavy. It had several pictures on it, but no words. Shadows, moons, blades and knives decorated the exterior of the book, some in silver, some in pen, some even in semi-prescious stones.

The boy needed to use both hands to pick up the large book, so bit it was almost as large as his torso. He opened it and looked at the first page. Ink swiveled and moved around, as if re-arranging something that was written before, before finally stopping in a legible writing that Naruto could easily read somehow. It said: _"Blades and Shadows - By Firavel Duali"._

It was a strange name, rolling off funny off his tongue. It brought with it some ancient, primal even, sensation of shadow and darkness. Undeterred, Naruto turned the page...

_"I refuse to be a mere memory._

_How long has it been since I told that to my father? Seven hundred and forty winters have passed since I broke off of my 'family', seven hundred and forty winters since I left the Guild, my mother and all that I knew. Did I ever regret it? Yes, often. Would I have ever chosen differently? No, never._

_Had I stopped, had I hesitated, I would have been forgotten already, a memory long since run it's course. But I refuse! I refuse to bow down to this pathetic fate! I will NOT be forgotten! I will not be a memory! I will be a legend, beyond all else! _

_It's been six hundred years since we broke up, the others and I. Some died, others aged, the last quit to live quietly in a faraway place, trying to forget the horrors we faced - and killed. Cowards. They will be forgotten. I will not. For in this book lies my history, my life, my existence, my... essense._

_So, reader... Whoever you may be, whenever you may be, wherever you may be... Turn the page... and learn of Firavel Duali, the Shadow Elf, the Shadow Lotus Assassin that became a Warden. And remember, most importantly than everything... remember._

_Should however you wish to do something more than merely reading of my exploits... I can help. I see it even now, the Elven Age is ending, the world is dieing, the dwarves are diminishing and the humans are loosing whatever it was that drove them so, this ambition that seems to have passed to even our blood. In order to be remembered, to safeguard this final part of me, this final part of my Legacy... I have created this book. I have stored my soul's essense, my source of power. If judged worthy, you may receive that power and become a legend reborn, a Shadow Elf. I... no... WE... will never be mere memories._

_We will live forever... as Legends!"_

Naruto closed the book shocked. He could understand what he read, but he couldn't understand what they meant. Still, he knew that they were important. He had found something that noone else had. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he could feel the power coming out of the book. With quick motions, he opened the velvet bag, pushed the book inside, resealed it and set off to home to read it in peace. This... Firavel Duali guy, he sounded strong, very strong. Maybe as strong as Hokage-jiji. If he could learn from him, he would be the best ninja ever, he would become Hokage and change the world.

Once in the safety of his appartement, Naruto re-opened the book and began reading. It started with Firavel's childhood...

_"Chapter One... My childhood..._

_I never had much of it really. Since I was able to walk, I was taught to run. Since I was able to hold my hand steady, I was taught to fight. Since I was able to think, I was taught to understand. It was a harsh, harsh life. I remember some things fondly however..._

_The sound of birds in the morning when I would visit my Father for lessons on aristocracy and their wiles. The smell of sweatbread and fruit-wine the cook made when I would see her. As the son, even illegitimate, of a wealthy Elven aristocrat, I was afforded several privileges. I learned and studied and trained instead of course. When not in my Father's manor, I was in my Mother's training rooms. Born...bred... raised... all for one thing; assassination._

_Not that I knew at the time, nothing of the sword. To me, back then, using a sword to fight and strike a dummy at lethal points was the norm, what others would do as well. I merely believed I had more things to be expected of me. So I practiced with even greater fervor, a trait that even my children, and their children, seem to have inherited; total and absolute focus on the goal at hand._

_But I digress. My Mother was such in name only. She never was motherly, or caring, or protective of me. If anything, she was harsh, spiteful and fierce. But not hateful. I think._

_She was a DrowElf, one of the few that had adapted enough to live on the surface. Leader of the Shadow Lotus guild, the most dangerous assassins of all Shattered Lands._

_She had chosen my father not on merit of love, or even lust. No, she chose him for his cunning, his logic, his ruthlessness as well as his physical ability. She mated with him, for I refuse to call this anything more than a mere animalistic rut, and used several ways to make sure to be left with child._

_My father was, of course, incessed. Until they both realized they could use this, they could combine forces, for their gain if not for satisfying these 'urges' occasionally. My Mother did after all have high expectations. So, I was hidden away, the unholy, hated union between a Dark Elf and a Moon Elf, a Cursed and a Blessed._

_I was the middle ground between the subdued, silvery light of the Moon and the utter, devouring, darkness of the Underdark. I was a shadow. In a... burst of inspiration, I was called a Shadow Elf, a name that surprisingly enough stuck with me for eight whole centuries._

_Day in, day ought, I trained. I was tested, I was tried, I was almost torn apart to be rebuilt as they wished. Of course they failed, my race's stubborn focus on a single goal safeguarded my mind at least partially._

_It was found that I had much latent magical power. I never trained to be a Sorcerer or a Wizard however, so it never developed past the basic level. But it was enough. My mother was... kind... enough to teach me how to use the Drow's skill with darkness. While I couldn't reproduce it, she managed to teach me a smattering of theories behind the use of Shadow Spells that I managed to harness my power. It formed into several shadow-linked powers of varying use and difficulty. First amongst them, and one of my favourites, was my version of the Arcane Spell: Alter Self._

_I could hide my parentry. Initially, it was just skin tone changing, but later, I could use it to change completely from one race to another, even as far as looking like a human or halfling due to my age's height. After I had been sent on several missions, I began to develop another skill, one just as useful. I called it Shadow Port. Essentially, it's a jump from one large shadow to another, enabling me to escape capture or notice, entering or exiting a house at whim. The range was small, of course. But, it had its uses._

_My first assassination was when I had just turned 25, a mere child by my race's beliefs. Considering we can live upwards of eight centuries, that's somewhat to be expected. It was my Mother's... birthday gift. A wealthy merchant that had defied a certain influetial person's will. That person being my Father._

_I snuck that night into the man's bedroom as he slept with his wife. I took one of my blowgun's needles, already dipped in powerful poison. On my other hand, I kept one of my hand-made smokebombs. I was real proud of them, having created them by combining a sleeping agent with alchemical processes, to create a cloud of sleeping gasses. I crushed the orb in my hand, releasing the gas. I was kept safe by my face mask, which filtered out most air impurities. A touch of my poisoned needle, some healing balm to hide the wound and... the man was dead. He just hadn't realized it yet._

_I suppose it was my younge age back then that led me to think. Was it really that easy? To take another life? He had had no chance, no choice in the matter. Much like... me. That had shocked me quite badly. It took me days to get out of my daze. Not because of the kill. That had passed mere seconds after. But... of my new fear, Oblivion, Nothingness. I realized then that I didn't belong in the Guild. I was different. I wanted acceptance, I wanted acknowledgement, I wanted to be known, feared or loved. I didn't want to die like that foolish man, in my bed, at night, by a shadowed figure. I wanted to leave my mark on this world._

_But to do that... I would have to be the best. Not just the best Assassin. But the Best. The Best, so good that I would stand above all others, toppling legends. It was back then that I realized I would leave the guild, and soon. I began using my money and contacts, of which I had had plenty. I began slowly amassing my supplies. That night, seven hundred and sixty-two winters ago, on my birthday... I began my disassociation with the guild. Unlike most 'heroes' who come across some illuminating realization that hits them head-on like a dwarven anvil on poorly-prepared kobold trap, I began my journey long before I began walking._

_Now, here I stand, so much time after that, watching the world go by as I stand unchanging, unchallenged, undefeated. I am a legend. But... legends die and are forgotten._

_I will not be a memory._

_I refuse to bow to that despiccable fate of Oblivion._

_I am Firavel Duali, first Shadow Elf._

_I WILL be remembered."_

Naruto closed the book, the author's words swirling through his head. He still couldn't grasp many things, but he did get the general gist. That man... he was like him. Forced into a world not of his choosing, forced into a lifetime not of his choosing. Well, he wouldn't be Uzumaki Naruto if he wouldn't change the world! He, too, would be a legend! He wouldn't be forgotten!

Naruto slept that night with the book in his arms. In the morning, he had failed to notice that his skin had become slightly darker, as if it was slowly changing color... to that of warm ebon. Firavel's essense had accepted him.

**A/N: DAMN YOU PLOT BUNNIES! DAMN YOUUUUU!**

**I just can't get rid of this plot bunny. Firavel Duali is my newest, and apparently, favourite DnD character. He is a Shadow Elf, a mixture between a Drow Elf and a Moon Elf. His class is Shadow Lotus Assassin, a combination of Rogue and Monk to replace the, pathetic, 3rd edition Ninja class. Shadow Lotus Assassins are a bit more forward, but much less damaging with their sneak attack. They make up for it with specialized weapons, better training, poisons and of course cunning. It might take a good Ninja to use Ghost Walk to infiltrate a place, but it takes a much, much better character to sneak into a magical fortress using nothing but extreme training, cunning, planning and raw skill. If anyone's interested, I could send it over for some more playtesting, though both the class and the race are a **_**bit**_** on the high-end scale, seeing as the Shattered Lands world I made is quite hard to survive in. If one can't adapt that is.**

**For those not fluent in Elven, or just don't have the book, Firavel means Dark Sword and Duali means Crescent Shadow.**

**This chapter has been beta-read by Libra of Fairy Tail, who I'm thinking of promoting to my regular Beta-Reader. She has some kick-ass ideas when she wants too. Trouble's fitting them with my completely mind-churning, brain-blasting ideas that I get. Ah well, 'tis the flavour of life!**

**Before I forget, Naruto's going to be quite a bit older than the other Rookie Nine and they are all going to start a few years later than the canon, at 15-16.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: An Assassin_

Naruto spent a week learning from the book. It was a tome of inestimable knowledge. It detailed the entire life of Firavel Duali or, as he should have been in Naruto's language Duali Firavel.

The young child realized several things from that book, some told directly, others implied. This book was simply from another world. A world of magic and sorcery, where might made right, where adventurers killed powerful monsters every day, where ninja were not jutsu-slinging warriors but shadow-cloaked assassins.

Many parts were scary, but Firavel's writing put many things into perspective and his, somewhat dry, humour helped the child along. He learned many things from that book, seeing as the Shadow Elf was very, very good at explaining things. It seemed he had wanted people to learn both his story and his techniques, his fighting style, everything. In the book were training excercises, lessons on the use of Shadow Magic Firavel was so fond of, even on how to research and create alchemical and poisonous substances. The entire training regime of the Shadow Lotus Guild, a guild that had apparently taken most of the skills monks trained in along with a sneaky rogue's cunning and mixed them together creating what seemed to be the perfect assassin.

Naruto didn't realize it at the time, but his mind, his psyche was adapting to Firavel's essence just as his body did. It wasn't immidiately noticeable, but Naruto became more ambitious, more focused, less concerned with what others thought.

Then... the story ended. But the book had much more left to go. It was Firavel's final gift to whoever found that book. A mighty spell that would transform the inheritor of his Legacy into a Shadow Elf, much like Firavel himself. Naruto was already so enamoured by the Shadow Elf's life he didn't think much about it. He ignored the warning about his life changing, just as his entire being would.

With firm, sure hands, Naruto began the ritual. Of course, it didn't happen instantly, nor in a day. It took him almost a week to find the proper ingredients to properly prepare for it. But, one day, a day he knew that Hokage-jiji, who would never have agreed to it, wouldn't pay attention. So what, thought little Naruto, so what if he lost all links to his previous family? He was just a nameless, worthless orphan, hated by all around him. He would rise though, rise to the power and skill that would make all others respect him, notice him and remember him. For a nameless orphan like Naruto, the immortality afforded by becoming a Legend was greater than anything else.

He began casting the ritual, speaking words that were rough on his tongue, the flames of the candles swaying hypnotically, the scent of burning incence clouding the air around him. The book was on top of his folded legs as he sat and spoke words of power never heard in these lands.

A few moments later, Naruto's eyes were begining to close, feeling immese tireness behind them. But his mouth never stopped, his voice never wavered. Words now flowed like a river from his throat, the punctuations corrected without any conscious thought, for such the spell commanded. Naruto wouldn't be able to stop, even if he wanted.

A dark, shadowy cloud seeped slowly out of the book and encased Naruto in a coccoon of unpierced darkness.

And Naruto lost consciousness.

Deep inside Naruto's mindscape, the great Demon Kyubi roared in laughter. The boy had ceased being human, the fool. Now the seal would open, giving him his freedom. And Lo and Behold, the gate DID open. The great demon took a step forward when a voice caused him more anger and hate than anything else. For in front of him stood the Yondaime Hokage, Hero of Konoha and the person, the mere _human_ that was responcible for his imprisonement.

"Soko made da. Kyubi. (That's as far as you go. Kyubi.)"

**"YONDAIME! I WILL DESTROY YOU!"**

Yet, before the demon could move, chains of chakra wrapped around him, stopping him in his tracks as another figure, a red head this time appeared.

**"KUSHINA? YOU TOO?"**

The pair stood their ground. It was a hopeless battle, but for the sake of their sole child, they would do it, even if he wouldn't biologically be their child once it was over. The pair took their combat stances and were ready to fight when another voice cut in, soft, velvety and yet with a touch of silver and maybe even hardened steel, emotionless-seeming yet more impressed than imaginable.

"So this is the youngling's mind? Most impressive of him, to grow up as he did. Most impressive indeed."

A person walked out of the shadows, but he wasn't a human, not by a long shot. He was shorter than most people, leaner too, but even through his grey-black armor, his muscles were clearly defined. He had an angular, sharp face, with no facial hair except two thin, elegant even, eyebrows and a mane of long dark blue hair. On his head, a diadem, embroidered with silver, gold and a black diamond held the hair from his face. His skin was like ebon, only a slightly gray-er tone, giving the illusion of a moving dark sculpture. Eyes so piercing they seemed to see through all before it, almond shaped and a mixture of purple and black. Oh yes, this person was most definitely not human. Something even more apparent from his pointed ears as he walked passed the stunned pair, in front of the Demon Lord. He wore chainmail armor, dulled so as to not draw attention. Several parts were covered by leather armor, studded with the same dulled metal, reducing the mobility restriction. He had a bandoleer in front of his chest, storing several small vials, round orbs and even a scroll. Behind him was a bow, almost as long as Daikyu, built with a recurve, a score of arrows hanging bellow it, held securely in place. On another holster on his back was a short staff-like weapon, made of dark wood and embroidered with gold inscriptions and runes. On his hip was a hand crossbow with a few bolts under it and one knocked and ready. Wrapped around his waist, looking like a belt, was a whip with a dagger in the end, while on the boots, them too elegand and made of dark leather more supple than anything they had seen before, were a pair of broad-bladed knives, made to hook on flesh and create large, bleeding gashes. Over the whip were several shuriken. The armor was somewhat covered with aristocrat's clothings, in a mixture of purple, black and gold. A halfcoat covered a shoulder, with a large crest on it looking like a crescent moon with a knife behind it, words from another language inscribed under it.

It was Firavel Duali, or at least his essense.

"What are you doing here beast? Tainting this child's mind and soul? Though even that doesn't go that well does it?"

**"HOW DARE YOU! I AM THE MIGHTY DEMON LORD KYUBI NO YOKO! PATHETIC INSECT, I WILL CRUSH YOU!"**

The elf's voice came again, but this time with barely concealed hate. This scum would destroy a child, his own legacy too? Unacceptable.

"I think not demon. I have slain many of your kind before while I was alive, all of them much more terrifying than a mere nine-tailed fox. I think I'm going to be the first to ever slay a demon while dead though. Thanks for another chance to prove my Legacy, demon. But you shall not lay a finger on the child, nor on his parents! May some god show you mercy and let me kill you quickly, for I will most certainly _not_."

Before the, very, surprised eyes of the Yondaime Hokage and his wife, Firavel disappeared from sight, moving in immense speeds. His form leaped around the mindscape, bouncing off everything, even running on the wall, without chakra. Sure, confident hands pulled out the bow, notched arrows and started shooting arrow after arrow. The missiles themselves lit up with a brilliant flame after being launched and struck the demon, their numerous enchantments dealing surprisingly grievous wounds. The demon made to smash the annoying elf with a mighty tail, but Firavel used his whip to grab on to it and re-direct himself mid-flight, leaving some wounds from the whip as well.

Yondaime was openly gaping at the agile elf while his wife was... cheering him on. "Go get him! DATTEBANE!" It was the kindest cheer, for soon after followed with more... dangerous ones, like cutting off the fox's genitals. Minato shuddered, remembering his wife's temperament while Firavel smirked. Amongst the chaos of the demon's pained cries, Firavel's voice reached the woman.

"If you weren't married, my Legacy's mother or both of us dead, I would have fallen for you. Woman, you are by far one of the most fiery females I have met!"

Minato, jealousy getting the better of his mouth, screamed at the elf. "Hey, that's MY wife you're flirting with!" He only received Firavel's laughter in responce, realizing that the Shadow elf was merely joking around.

Kushina blushed at the praise but laughed as well, especially when Firavel struck his boot's knives right into the... underside... of Kyubi. The demon yowled in pain and reeled back. Getting his chance, Firavel seemed to focus for a second before blazing through the battlefield, small flashes of silver coming from his previous position. The demon reeled back from the assault and the two shinobi realized that Firavel had riddled the demon with several shuriken.

Of course, Kyubi wouldn't just take this, he roared and blasted the elf with his chakra, seeing as trying to hit him with any form of targeted attacks was fruitless. The elf however moved like a fish in water, contorted his body like an eel or maybe a snake and completely avoided the blast of energy, surprising the demon. However, the Kyubi also noticed something else. Firavel had ran out of all his weapons except the weird staff-like weapon on his back and his whip-dagger.

**"HAHAHA! PATHETIC MORTAL! YOU HAVE NO MORE WEAPONS TO THROW TO ME! NOW YOU SHALL DIE!"**

Kushina and Minato were terrified for a bit, before seeing Firavel's smirk. The agile assassin removed his staff from his back and gave an absolutely terrifying smirk to the demon.

"Is that a challenge? Then I will get serious, demon fool!"

A quick touch from Firavel's skilled fingers and a pair of blades shot out from the tips of the staff with a soft _'shink!'_ sound. He twirled the double spear-like weapon around him in eight-figures and fell to a comfortable stance. Then, he was gone. Not speed, just a flicker of shadows in his place. Kyubi roared in pain as the elf had appeared behind his hind legs and severed the muscles cleanly. A short dash later, he was in front of the demon's front feet and cut them down as well, causing the great beast to collapse with a resounding boom.

The two onlookers cringed for a second, thinking Kyubi had fallen right onto Firavel, but they were quickly reassured as the Shadow Elf had appeared above the demon, falling onto it's head. With a twist of his wrists, the short staff had disconnected in the middle. Now, it had a pair of long, thin spikes, much like a tamo dagger's blades. He fell onto the demon's neck and stabbed, _hard._ The spikes easily penetrated the demon's skin, reached between the vertebrae and severed them. Firavel then leapt off the neck, pirouetted through the air and landed onto Kyubi's nose, his face hard yet excited. He was panting quite heavily from the exertion, but he was definitely in a much better shape than his adversary.

"This is the end, Demon. I know you will reform one day. But my Legacy, my Successor, the boy you sought to destroy will be here. And he will end you again and again. Die."

The ebon-skinned elf raised his weapons and with an unbelievable burst of speed leapt onto the demon's head and stabbed downwards. The thin spikes pierced through the demon's skull, their enchantments enlarging the blades, and went through to the demon's brain, killing it and dispersing it with a final curse.

Firavel fell to the ground lightly, without even raising a spec of dust or making a ripple on the water. He panted, but twirled the two weapons in his hands before re-combining them and storing them on his back. He looked expectant towards the two stunned humans in front of him.

Minato was the first to speak. "You... you... you killed him! I... I couldn't do anything but you killed him as if he was a mere child!"

Firavel smirked. "Yes, but unlike you I shot him with so many alchemical poisons that would have taken down an entire country. Also, unlike you, my weapons are extremely powerful magical items, possessing demon-slaying enchantments. He was a very powerful adversary, but I was prepared for him. And you, my fair lady, are you alright?" He asked Kushina.

The red-head gaped for a bit before shaking her head and leaping at the elf, hugging him tightly, thanking him over and over. He had not only destroyed her own curse, but also her son's as well. Firavel gave her a soft smile and a one-armed hug.

"Now, I'm afraid it's time for me to leave." He said. "I have left everything to my successor, your son. He should come by soon, to speak with you. Tell him the truth. He will not misjudge you. His trials have given him wisdom beyond his years, maybe even beyond mine. Farewell and Luna's light guide you."

Then the elf faded away into wisps of shadow and smoke, back into the book that held his essense. A book that had mysteriously added several pages to the back, for Naruto to write his own stories in.

Mere seconds after Firavel's departure, another figure walked in. He shared the shadow elf's skin color, his hair and even general build. But he was much younger and his eyes were a deep blue, slowly turning black as it neared the .

"Mother? Father?" A soft voice spoke from the shadows, shaking the pair from their stupor. They rushed to the boy and hugged him tightly, crying tears of happiness. Kushina began fussing over the former blonde while Minato patted the boy on his back.

"Hello son. I'm sorry for what I did to you. But I had to protect everyone. I... I didn't think they would have disregarded my final wish to see you as a hero. I'm so sorry son... Sorry for not being there for you."

Kushina looked tearfully at her son as well, for maybe the last time on that earth. "Me too Naru-chan. Me too. If only I was stronger, Kyubi wouldn't have been released and we would all have been a family. I'm so sorry my son, I'm so sorry, forgive me..."

Tears fell from her eyes onto her son's shoulder as she held him close, trying to give him the love she never could before. Then, Naruto's voice cut them both.

"Why should I forgive you?" He said, before laughing at their surprised faces. "I have nothing to forgive. You didn't do anything bad. You tried your best and that's all I could ever ask from you. It's not your fault you weren't here for me, it was Kyubi's. You didn't abandon me, you didn't leave me behind. You loved me, you always... always loved me. So what if I couldn't see it, your love didn't go away, it always was there and always will be. So, mom, dad, don't cry any more. I love you too, I love you so much it almost hurts." Naruto was crying at the end, but it was tears of happiness, not sadness, so much happiness that it poured out of his heart like an all-powerful river, cleansing all in it's way, giving life and taking away death and sadness.

The family hugged tightly, savouring the meeting. Naruto, suddenly, let out a sad laugh. His parents looked at him surprised.

"You know, it's ironic. Thanks to Firavel, the Kyubi's banished and you we are free. But my body can't produce chakra so I can't keep you here. If I hadn't met Firavel, Kyubi would still be here, but I also would have the chakra to keep you with me. Now... Now I don't know if I regret finding that book."

Kushina looked at her son, emotions running through her eyes. "It matters not son. You will be with us someday, when you move on. Until then, we will love you from afar. We will always be watching you. Our beloved little Naru-chan..."

Minato nodded in agreement at his son, feeling his time to go grow near.

Naruto looked at his mother. "Nee, kaa-chan... could you... could you do me a favour?" His face had apparently blushed if the increase of purple-red color on his cheeks was any indication.

Kushina looked at him curious and she nodded.

"I... I really want you to... sing me a lullaby mom. I never... never had any so... I..."

Kushina placed her son's head on her lap as she ran her hands through his hair. With a soft, sweet voice, she began to sing, her voice reverbrating through the walls. The mindscape shook with every note, every syllable that escaped her mouth. The walls, broken already, fell away, crumbling into nothingness as fresh, silvery-white walls showed from behind. Pipes, rusted, were mended and the ceaseless dripping of unshed tears stopped. The water, that was pooling at their feet, drained away, revealing a spotless floor. The ceiling, so down it was suffocating, opened away, revealing a beautiful sunrise.

Minato and Kushina watched on in wonder as the mere act of singing a lullaby fixed the damage so many years of hate had caused to their son. Naruto's breathing became slow and shallow as he fell away into peaceful slumber. His last words, his last thoughts reflected immense joy, happiness and relief.

"Now... now I know why everyone likes them so much..."

Kushina looked down at her child's peaceful face, and tears welled into her eyes. Minato was gently rubbing her back, showing his support. With a broken voice, the red-headed woman spoke, for the last time to her son.

"Nee... Naru-chan... grow well alright? Don't fight with everyone... And, make lots and lots of friends... Don't eat too much ramen and make sure to eat your veggies... Also... also, find yourself a girl... and give me lots of grandbabies and... and..." Kushina sniffed a bit. "And live well Naruto-chan. Live well and happily and grow strong and become the Legend you want to be and... and just be happy Naruto-chan... Be happy my little Maelstrom..."

Minato let a small chuckle escape his lips. "Heh, my time to say goodbye and Kushi-chan took it all away. But... she already said everything I ever wanted to say. So... I'm gonna say this... become strong Naruto. And take no shit from anyone. Show them your worth. You're a Namikaze the... the last Namikaze. So show them what an Uzumaki-Namikaze can do and kick ass for both me and you mom. And don't worry. Me and your mother will always remember you. You are already a legend to us... My son... grow strong..."

Kushina had let her son's head rest on the stone, yet somehow still comfortable, floor as she stood up, taking her husbands hand as their figures began to blur and fade away. Their united voice echoed through the mindscape.

"We will always love you, we will always be watching. Goodbye... our son."

A few wisps of light that lazily fell on Naruto's calm face were all that remained. A smile, a rare, true, joyful smile etched itself onto Naruto's face.

Outside the Mindscape, Naruto's body, long since wrapped in a coccoon of power and shadow, began to emerge. The coccoon dispersed as dawn's light landed on it. Naruto's purple-black eyes opened and peered through the glass windows, his hands giving him shade to adapt to the light. He got up, dusted himself off and looked into the mirror. He was wearing yesterday's clothes, but that's all that remained of the previous Naruto. Now, he looked like in his mindscape, a young Shadow Elf. He glanced to a still shadow-covered corvered and smirked. He cracked his joints, enjoying the sound and relaxation they brought. He concentrated on the shadowy essence around him and his form wavered and altered, becoming that of a brown-haired, brow-eyed average boy. He took the velvet bag, which he now knew to be a bag of holding, capable of storing immense amounts of things, placed the book inside and stored the bag in a brown leather backpack. He slung it over his shoulder and leapt out the window, marching towards the Hokage Tower.

Firavel Duali's time had come once again.

**A/N: Not much to report here.**

**Firavel Duali is a level 40 assassin, a god-slayer. Kyubi was defeated because he was a demon and, at those levels, demons are pretty much one of the two major enemies, along with dragons. So, Firavel had enchanted his gear to kill demons easier. Along with specially brewed alchemical poisons and... well you got the point.**

**Yes, Naruto will have crazy skills. No, he won't have chakra, he won't need it. Yes, he's going to be kicking major ass. No, he's not going to be a whiny little brat trying to save everyone but neither will he be an emotionless murderer or what have you. If anything he's inspired by my character, which means he's going to act somewhat insane, extremely focused to the point of obsession and he's going to be a very, very lethal dude.**


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: A Destiny Altered_

Sarutobi Hiruzen was doing his paperwork in his office like usual. Yesterday was the day he saw Naruto and the boy was fine, if a little bit too focused and calm for it to be usual. Also, his eyes, hair and skin tone had slowly started to change, along with the boy's personality and, were his ears slightly tipped? Sarutobi shook his head, if something had happened, he would have known, the boy would have told him. Suddenly, his secretary notified him that there was someone outside, waiting to speak with him. Curious, and in a way thankful from the break from the endless paperwork, Sarutobi let the newcomer in.

A boy then walked in, with brown hair, brown eyes and overall so ordinary it was unbelievable, mostly because _noone_ was that ordinary. He looked at the boy expectantly and was stared back with matching intencity. A few seconds later, as Sarutobi was getting ready to speak, the boy's form shivered, shook and faded away, like a summer's mirage seen through.

Sandaime, and the ANBU hidden in the room gasped at what they saw.

It was a small... person, a boy if it was human. It... he... looked like a human in that it was bipedal, had two arms and a head with roughly the same features as a human. But it's face was too angular to be normal, the skin was a ebon-gray color that no human had, his eyes were puple along the side of the iris, shifting to pitch black towards the centre. The long mane of hair that adorned the face was a deep, very dark green, almost black. The boy was wearing pants made of black cloth, embroidered with various shapes in gold thread, leaves surrounding a crescent moon with a sword behind it. The shirt looked just as high quality, this one being dark purple with golden thread spelling the words _'Sharti tra fanil, niffi orisa'_, a language none could understand under a full moon. On it, hang a pendant, the shape of a pointed shield with an eye crying a tear of blood.

A melodious voice came from the elegantly-thin lips, causing the sole female ANBU to blush thinking how the boy would look if he grew up a bit. "Hello Sandaime Hokage-sama. I wish that we speak alone, for I bring you news of your charge, one Uzumaki Naruto or, how he should have been called Uzumaki _Nami-_"

The stranger was cut off by the Hokage appearing behind him, kunai pointing at his jugular, looking very angry. "Speak, of both the news and how you know of _that_."

The boy looked calmly at the Hokage, as if there was not a blade just threatening to split open his throat. "I would anyway _human_. Now let me go and send your guards away. This is highly sensitive information. As to how I know? I met Naruto's parents."

The elderly man released the boy and signaled the men away. He didn't hide the kunai though. With his free hand he motioned to the seat. The boy nodded and gracefully, maybe too gracefully, walked over to it and sat relaxedly on it.

"Speak. Now. If something happened to Naruto-kun..."

The boy laughed and what a laugh it was, melodious, joyful, mirthful and lilting all at the same time. "Relax Hokage-sama. The boy is fine, unhurt and feeling better than ever before. How would I know? Because simply I am, or at least was until dawn today... Uzumaki Naruto himself!"

"W-WHAT? But you're not even human!" Sandaime gasped a bit to himself before looking curiously at the boy in question who chuckled at the exclamation.

"Yes, yes it's true, I'm not even human, not at all. I am what's called a Shadow Elf. How did I become one? Oh, that's a long, unbelievable story. But one you should hear and believe none-the-less. Please, old man, take a seat and listen carefully. It all began when I was going through the woods one day..."

For several minutes Naruto spoke of his actions, what he read in the book though not too much, he wanted to keep Firavel's training secret lest they fall to the wrong hands. But, soon enough, he reached the point where he performed the ritual. Sandaime was already hooked on the story, Naruto had apparently inherited his predesesor's charisma and storytelling skills, at least in part. Somehow, the boy made even him believe it a bit.

"So, when I performed the ritual, I was knocked unconscious so that my mind wouldn't be torn apart due to my body breaking down and being re-created from scratch. Imagine my surprise however, when Kyubi's seal broke off. The demon being free, the adjointed two seals that kept my parents sealed inside also broke. They decided to face off the demon in a final attempt to protect me. Now, imagine how great my surprise was when Firavel Duali himself also joined us!"

"Wait here a second, you're telling me that a dead Shadow Elf from another dimension somehow stored inside a book you found entered your mind when you performed a ritual to become a Shadow Elf yourself?"

"Yes, yes I am. Apparently the book had worked a bit _too_ well and stored Firavel's soul inside, or the closest thing to it anyway. So, when the ritual imbued me with his essense, his soul was dragged along. In there, the demon tried to fight for his freedom, but Firavel... he was too strong, frighteningly so. Through all the stories I had read of him, nothing was as terrifying as his grace and agility, his flashing blades and perfect motions. He was... majestic and awe-inspiring. It was nothing like I had ever seen before. I saw it all from his point of view too, even if I couldn't see his thoughts, I saw how he did it all. When I finally had a body of my own inside there, I spoke to my parents. I will spare you the tearful details, but I forgave them and they forgave me for becoming what I am. Though, I am quite a bit dissapointed at you Hokage-sama."

"Oh, and how so Naruto-kun, if you are Naruto-kun that is."

"You should have told me at some point, at least of the demon. It would have been hard, granted, but I would have gotten over it and forgiven you by now. As is, I don't think I ever will, call it one of Firavel's traits, never forget a slight, never trust a traitor. Also, you should have kept your people in a tighter leash and, as the elves would say _'Menartu wytalimen nilaamin, sil niefendil exanimos nuvendi'_, or 'some knowledge is perilous, but noone died from a surfeit of wisdom'. I'm sure you realize the meaning of those words, right Sandaime?"

"I... see. Well, for that I am truly sorry but, how _do_ you intend to prove you're Uzumaki Naruto and what will you do?"

The boy sighed. "As much as I would have loved to possess my predesessor's skill, I do not. As much as I would have loved to be unfettered, I cannot. Therefore, I will remain a member of this village and protect it. Apparently, once they learn of my ancestry and Kyubi's destruction, they will flock to me, in a bad attempt to gain my grace, the hypocrites. But, I will give them a chance, maybe when they are not being held down by their sadness and fear, they will understand and truly repent. As for how to convince you of me being Naruto? I will tell you of my tale, surely that will cinch it? You may also find traces of the demon's former prison, now defunct and broken. Take your pick old man."

Sandaime began the ruthless interrogation of Naruto then, one that lasted upwards of five hours, trying to evaluate everything he heard. It was hard, but he managed it and in the end...

"I'm sorry for not believing you Naruto-kun but.. well... it was kinda..."

"Unbelievable, yes, I know. Now, I leave it up to you to break the news in. Send for me whenever you need me, I have work to do. Not only do I have to get training equipment, I also have to start training if I want to reach Firavel's level. I can do no less if I want to be hailed as a legend."

Withe these parting words, Naruto got up, walked towards the door, paused for a second to concentrate and resumed his previous appearence of an average boy. With a sigh, he walked out the door and left for home, leaving an old Kage to curse and try to find a way to bring up the news to his subjects, realizing he should never have told them of Naruto's special circumstances at all.

Naruto for his part simply walked towards a nearby shop to purchase his training equipment. If he understood correctly, he would come to inherit his parent's funds soon. So, in the meantime, he could use his current money to buy himself weights and other training items. Firavel after all had a terrifying training regime, Naruto would have to match, no, out-train the assassin if he wanted to be stronger. He would have to make up for all the years up to then too.

The following two days were extremely shocking to Konoha when Sandaime broke the Kyubi Law and told everyone what happened. It was even more shocking when he revealed just who the boy everyone hated was. Of course, thinking ahead, Sarutobi didn't reveal _everything_, such as his change of race for example. Instead he just said that the loss of chakra was the price he had paid for the death of Kyubi, one that every ninja and most shinobi cringed at knowing how important it was. Still, Sandaime had said, it hadn't deterred the boy from continuing his training to become as strong as possible.

Naruto's appearence had also sent many of them reeling, meeting the cold, emotionless face of Naruto, his dark-purple eyes that seemed to peer into their very souls, forcing them to remember and mourn the fact that they had hated him for nothing of his fault. Naruto's words that he couldn't care less about Konoha sent many shivers down people's spines, understanding that they had lost the loyalty of their most legendary shinobi out of their own shortsightedness.

So, Naruto lived a double-life of a sort. Taking a leaf out of his Mentor's life, he masqueraded as a human, hiding his elven characteristics and isolating himself from Konoha for the most part. Not that he really hated them, but he didn't feel even the slightest amount of respect or loyalty to those hypocrites. And truly hypocritical most of them were, attempting to suck up to him or set up alliances, even using their own children as a means to appeal to the boy's ambitions. As if. Naruto's ambitions were nowhere near as small as becoming Konoha's strongest clan, not compared to his desire to become a legend amongst legends.

Naruto's alter ego, ironically enough his true form, had also been introduced to a select few people as Elrad Duali. Those people were screened by Sandaime and briefed on a need-to-know basis, including Morino Ibiki, the head of ANBU, Hatake Kakashi and Mitarashi Anko, who by the way, tried to hit on the boy in under of ten seconds of meeting him.

All of them were amazed at the story and accepted several seals and blood oaths to minimize the chances of knowledge getting out. In return, Elrad made sure to both brief them on his up and coming skillset as well as accept yearly mental and psychological evaluations to make sure he remained sane, a danger all to real to the young shadow elf.

And so days, weeks, months and years flew by. And Naruto became an adult by Shadow Elf standards, much earlier than normal too. His human side had aged a bit when he was reborn, meaning his Shadow Elf years became the equivalent of his then-human ones, that of a twenty-year old youngling. Now, five years later, Naruto often passed his nights in the forests around Konoha. He felt more at ease within Nature's embrace than in a stuffy manor, even if it was his parents'. Not that he disliked it, far from it. His parents' estate contained everything a base of operations would need, from weapons, to various supplies to hidden training grounds. But, it was still too... small for an elf, even a Shadow Elf.

So, Naruto spent equal times in the forest and at his home, according to the seasons mostly. He had also added a large alchemical lab as well as poison lab for his uses, seeing as Firavel had listed several recipes on alchemical and poisonous substances, some of which Konoha had come to love to use, such as his thunderstones and healing creams.

Still, the forest was as inviting as ever to the growing assassin, and a very good place to practice stealth and combat too. He was quite confident in his skills, having trained fervently after his rebirth. It had brought him very close to Firavel's own physical body, increasing his strength, agility, cunning and natural charisma, but it had seriously hurt his stamina.

Naruto's attire in the forest consisted of pretty much Firavel's own combat clothing, what he wore against the Kyubi, minus the aristocratic clothing of course. He had fashioned a longbow from a tree and gave it a recurve by using deer bones and a lot of oils to make it strong yet supple. It hung diagonally from his shoulder along with half a score of arrows, which he had all poisoned with his favourite, Blood Leaf Extract, an injury-type poison that caused minor veins to burst while reducing the amount of oxygen blood can carry. Two hits from that could take most jounin down in less than five seconds, if he let it run its course, even one shot from it could prove to be lethal. He held six shuriken at his belt, useful for repeated poison strikes, despite the little damage they could cause. Well, little considering his other options as the shuriken were a revolutionary design, with three hook-shaped blades, made to pierce the skin and tear it out. Of course, we shouldn't forget his second-favourite weapon, a whip-dagger, useful for many situations, including tripping enemies or wrapping it around branches. Finally, Firavel's first short staff was stored in his back, as the bag of holding had several enchantments preventing him from withdrawing items he wasn't ready for.

Naruto's meditation on top of a tree was interrupted when he heard the sound of a man running through the trees. Interested, since this place was far from the patrol routes of shinobi, he decided to investigate. Soundlessly, he got up and leaned backwards, his skilled feat wrapping around a branch to the side. With expert moves he tumbled his way down without making a single sound. Using his sensitive eyes, he easily spotted the runner in the moonlight. Naruto tensed his legs a bit before leaping forward in a blur, his hands helping him along by grabbing and swinging from branches. Coming to a large clearing, he untied his whip and wrapped it around a high branch, using his momentum to leap farther than before, clearing it with ease. He twisted through the air and landed on a branch's edge without a single leaf moving or a creaking sound betraying his voice. He squatted down, unslung his longbow and nocked and arrow onto the string, pulling it back. A few seconds later, the unsuspecting runner entered the clearing and leaned on a tree, trying to catch his breath.

"And what business would a man have, running around in such a peaceful evening? With such a cargo too?" Asked Naruto's voice after he had seen the 'cargo' the man was carrying, namely a young Hyuga Hinata. His voice echoed around the clearing strangely, making it impossible to discern his position.

The man pulled out a kunai and helt it to Hinata's throat as he glanced around in fear. "W-who's there! Reveal yourself!" What he failed to notice however was that the angle Naruto was aiming at, Hinata's head wasn't anywhere near his line of fire.

"I am the one asking questions here human. Tell me, how is this not what it seems to be, a kidnapping? Of the Hyuga clan's heiress none-the-less too. Mayhap my eyes play tricks on me or is it such an expertly made disguise?"

"C-come out or I'll kill her!"

"Oh, I think I'm pretty comfortable here, human." Came the mocking voice from all around the trees. "But you wouldn't dare hurt a hair of her and I know it, kumo ningen (Cloud Person). It would spark another war, one you do not have the possibility of lasting through."

The man was in his last legs. It was a young but merciless voice. He didn't know where it came from, he didn't know who it came from he didn't know anything any more. This whole mission had become a fiasco. In his desparation, he pushed the blade a bit deeper, drawing a drop of blood, believing that the Konoha nin, for who else could it have been, would reveal himself to save the little princess. How wrong he was, and how stunned as well, when a lilting and creepy laugh echoed along the tree lines, sending shivers of fear down his spine.

"Wrong move, human."

Naruto's fingers released the bowstring and it snapped in place with a _'twang!'_, startling the man. The string's return had the result of pushing the arrow forward with immense strength, causing it to soar through the air and spin thanks to it's expertly placed fletches. The arrow cut through the air silently, heading towards the kidnapper who, due to the sound of the string. The point of the arrow met the man's forehead and broke it, went through the soft flesh of the brain and exited from the back, ramming itself three inches into the ground. The man remained standing for all of two seconds before he collapsed, a fountain of blood and grey erupting from the puncture wound.

Hinata, awake for some time now, rolled onto the ground and her head faced towards the last location of her kidnapper's killer. A shadowy figure dropped down from the trees and her fear caused her to loose consciousness again.

Sandaime Hokage was on his desk, his fingers supporting his head as he waited for his shinobi to update him on the retrieval of one Hyuga Hinata. Imagine his surprise when he saw shadows coalesce in the middle of his office and reveal a familiar form. Only there was a difference, for said form was holding a girl's body in his arms, Hyuga Hinata's body to be exact.

"Naruto-kun! I see you found Hinata-san. Mind explaining me how?"

And so Naruto explained to the old man what had happened, including the location of the kill. Since Elrad was an unregistered combatant that came and went as he desired, it was impossible for anyone to ask of him anything, something that infuriated the Raikage immensely.

Sighing deeply as he re-applied his disguise to walk through Konoha unopposed, Naruto decided to talk a small detour to his home and sat down on a Dango Shop. While the taste was a bit too... strong to his elven pallette, he still enjoyed an occasional serving, especially now, as dawn broke through the mountain-filled horizon and the world was filled with sounds, shapes and scents of people begining their everyday lives. It was peaceful, but not overly so, reminiscent of the metropolises Firavel had traveled through in his centuries of life.

Naruto knew he couldn't dawdle there overmuch, he still had several alchemical proceedures to look after so, after leaving the payment to his food, he got up to return home when an arm, a female arm judging by the softness of the skin, was draped over him and the scent of dango, sake and perfume wafted to his sensitive nose.

"Oh, where might you be going now, El-rad-kun?" Anko's sultry voice came next to his ear, her whispers sending shivers down Naruto's spine, though he still couldn't tell what these shivers were all about, they made him excited for something he couldn't exactly place all the while scaring him somewhat.

"Anko-chan, greetings and salutations, I pray that Luna watched over you this night. Pray tell, how are you this fine morning, if I may enjoy your company over a serving of dango? As long as you keep that name a secret that is..."

Anko giggled and took a chair in front of him, but not before whispering to his ear. "You sweet talker you, I could eat you up..."

Naruto tried to maintain his composure, as Anko's words had several effects he couldn't classify, seeing as his knowledge of social interactions were limited to Firavel's book, who had been very secretive about these things to begin with. "I'm sure I taste worse than the dango this establishment has to offer Anko-chan. So, fair lady, what brings you here this hour of the day, I thought your work begins later, closer to noon than dawnbreak?"

Anko gave him a sultry smile and an equally sultry look. "What, can't I just go look for my favourite elf in the whole wide world?" A no-nonsense look told her that Naruto was serious. "Alright, alright, spoil my fun, why don't you. I was called to look for the Hyuga princess and later on to see if I could get anything from her. And guess what I learned about her rescuer, he was a dark-skinned, ripped, sexy and very, very well-armed elf... Now, where have I seen such a person I wonder..."

Naruto's face immmidiately became like stone. "I hope you are not trying to do what I think you're trying to do Anko."

Anko took a mock-hurt look on her face, the figurative halo of innocence floating above her head, only narrowly missing her devil horns... "Who? Me? Never!"

"Anko... tell me what you want..." Naruto sighed.

Anko grinned widely, thinking _'Score!'_. "Well, it's nothing much. I want a plate of dango and us to go on a date. I think you owe me with how many times I saved your butt." She said. _'And what a yummy butt it is Naruto-kun, you shall be mine!'_ Were her, less than honorable, thoughts. Apparently, the thought of a society's reject with exotic looks and mad weapon skills appealed quite a bit to the less-than-completely sane woman.

"Anko... I told you, we can't... we don't have a future together. You know the circumstances and... I don't want to break your heart."

"So you _do_ care! Aww, Naru-kun, you're so sweet! But, let me decide if I want this or not."

Naruto sighed, giving up. He just couldn't convince the hormonal woman the he wasn't the right man for her, that they just wouldn't 'click' together, but she never, ever listened. Maybe giving in and taking her on a date would satisfy her curiosity and leave him alone. **(A/N:Let us collectively laugh at the improbability of that thought.)** "Fine Anko-chan, let it be as you desire. Come afternoon I shall come by your house to pick you up. Dress nicely please."

Naruto got up leaving Anko dancing happily inside her head, and smiling widely on the outside. More than a few people shuddered in abject terror and sympathy of the poor fellow who would be receiving Anko's 'tender mercies', if the a smile was anything to go by.

The rest of the day passed as normal, a visit to a weak academy, hours and hours of training, a quick bath before dressing for the night. Naruto decided to go for some 'exotic' attire, selecting some of the aristocratic clothings Firavel had detailed in his book.

Knowing Anko's temperament, he allowed his skin to darken close to his now natural, his true eyes to be revealed and his facial structure to return to his normal. He let his skeletal structure to thin and reform to an elf's and he had created the perfect mix between his normal and elf forms, but one that looked at least partially human, lest he be hunted down. It was a stylish pair of black pants, embroidered with red and gold thread to create patterns of leaves and flames, a dark blue shirt with a long v-shaped cut made of cloth-created creases, revealing his muscled chest, tucked inside the trousers with a red open vest on top, with a black leather belt with Firavel's crest, a crescent moon with a blade behind it. A stylish rapier, one Firavel often wore when playing the aristocrat, was placed on the belt, Naruto's left hand comfortably placed on the basket hilt. Soft, supple black leather boots finalized the look and drew more than a few people's eyes. Not that Naruto cared whether they were looks of lust, surprise, mirth or jealousy.

So, with a deep breath to calm his nerves down, now that he could identify at least some of the feelings he was receiving due to Anko's... actions, he knocked on her door, alerting the girl inside to hide her friends lest they ruin her date by jumping her future boyfriend's bones on the spot. At least they had helped by picking her a nice, red dress with a nice cleavage cut and a cut to the side, revealing her long legs, one of her best assets really. Her hair had been made into a knot, letting several strands of hair frame her face, while the sticks keeping her hair in place were in fact concealed senbon, something he just couldn't do without. That and the wide-bladed knife on her hidden leg just in case an idiot got fresh with her and her dear, cute Elrad-kun was kind enough to leave him to her.

When the door opened, Naruto's eyes were assaulted by the sight of one _very _sexy looking Anko, causing his face to darken as his version of a full-face blush took over. Anko had an identical reaction to Naruto's appearence, but she managed to hide it better. At least she didn't obviously drool at his muscled chest or arms, no, she was content enough to do so in the safety of her own mind.

Naruto coughed a bit, to refocus himself mostly. "W-Well, good evening to you, my dear Anko-chan, I hope your day has been good?"

Anko looked at his chest for a tad longer than she should, shaking her self out of her reverie at Naruto's voice. "Yes, it was good, but it's going to get better. Shall we, Elrad-kun?"

Naruto nodded, taking her arm and walked with her away from her home, unbeknownst to him leaving a few women glaring at his date's back, snatching that from under their noses. Anko looked back, just long enough to give them a victorious wink and turn back to Naruto to enjoy her date.

Naruto took her to a well-known, high-class restaurant, making small talk as they went. When Anko pulled him on the dance floor, he was forced to cover his lack of knowledge with his natural grace and flexibility, making a very happy Anko have even happier thoughts, thinking of the possible _uses_ of such dexterity. The date continued with a walk through one of Konoha's park, illuminated by the moon's silvery light, creating an image that even Anko had to admit was very romantic.

She had only one disappointment when the pair returned home however, Naruto had brought her no flowers. Not that it ruined the date, not at all, it just seemed that he never thought of it. Once at her home's front door, Naruto released her arm and opened an inside pocket of his vest, pulling out a large, oval-shaped container of some sort.

"I know I haven't brought you flowers earlier, when I should, but I cannot... understand " came the uncomfortable reasoning from Naruto. "such waste of flowers, despite their meanings. Instead, I prefer something... practical. This is something I have created, a healing cream that will heal any wound it is applied to, unless it goes too deep. Knowing how often you come across poisons and venoms, I also imbued it with several counter-toxins, which should greatly reduce, if not outright block, the effects of any poisoned wound. Not much, I know, but I had little other idea of what I should have brought. At least, I made it myself, hopefully it will serve you as well as it serves me."

Anko almost broke down laughing at the boy's apology about the flowers. It was true he never realized why humans would cut a flower and then offer it to someone else, he saw them as living beings no less important than a forest of trees, hence cutting them was something he just couldn't do. She also _would_ have laughed at the gift, until she realized that Naruto was being completely honest. The woman settled for a giggle and accepted the unadorned container and gave the poor boy a kiss on the cheek, her lips lingering next to his ear for but a second longer than they should, whispering something to his ear, making him blush once again. "Bring me flowers next time and I will kiss you on the lips.

Naruto nodded nervously and after a hasty goodbye left, slinking into nearby shadows to conceal himself using his 'Naruto persona'. Anko, who had meanwhile _skipped_ into her house, hoped he had gone far enough to not hear her fangirlish squeal.

Once Naruto was back at his home, safely away from prying eyes, he looked at the ceiling of his room, reminiscing of the date and the kiss. "Somehow, I know she's not going to leave me alone, but for the life of me, I just don't care." This simple phrase would have caused peals of laughter to a certain group of three people, a red-headed woman, a blond-haired, blue-eyed man and an ebon-skinned elf from another dimension.

**A/N: A first sign of Naruto's skills as well as a set-up for later plot points mostly in this chapter. I hope you liked it.**

**Elrad means Guardian Leaf, a mention to Naruto's previous determination to protect Konoha/Leaf.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: Flames and Shadows_

A year after Naruto's date with Anko, found the young elf in quite a conundrum. After that fatefull date, he was... _forced_... to take the woman on several more dates. Also, apparently, she had spoken to her friends about him, making sure to cloak him in enough mysteries and secrets that, together with his exotic appearence, drew many female eyes. The poor man had his own set of fangirls and he wasn't even and adult by elf standards! Just over his thirties, he was still considered and adolesent and, unfortunately for him, elven puberty doesn't last for a couple of years, it can last for a _decade_! Oh the horrors...

In the meantime however, Naruto had trained as a Shadow Lotus Assassin, or at least went through their training regimes, often using Kakashi, Anko or Sandaime to simulate attackers. He had also 'unlocked' a few more recipes from the bag of holding, increasing his repertoire of elixirs and potions, not all of which were to be drunk.

He had come to a... bizzare relationship with the rest of Konoha, selling them a few of his creations in exchange for money or favours, though he did make sure to save the real good stuff for his friends, meaning Anko and Sandaime.

Hinata hadn't identified him from that fatefull night, something he was very grateful for, she seemed to stalk his human disguise enough. If she knew that her crush was the same person that had saved her that night... well, it wouldn't have been nice if what he had heard of female jealousy was anywhere near reality.

He often spent nights leaping around Konoha, enjoying the freedom of the wind, away from the troubles of earthbound creatures. It was one such night, but it would soon break off to become something much more.

Naruto's keen eyes spotted an irregular orange-red glow far ahead. Recognizing it as tell-tale signs of fire, he realized it was the Uchiha district, from the direction and distance. However, he thought, what reason would the Uchiha have for fire in an outside location? Curious, Naruto, reverting in his 'alter ego/true form' of Elrad, leapt towards the place.

Hidden by shadows, he approached it and, almost instantly, his nose picked up a scent he did not expect, that of blood. A cry of pain echoed in the distance and he sped off, understanding that either the assassin or his victims would be in that direction. His quick feet brought him towards the home further in the compound, one that he knew the head family lived in, Uchiha Fugaku, his wife and two children. Having read some of his mother's journals, he knew that the wife, Uchiha Mikoto, was his mother's best friend. Determined to not let her die if he could help it, he sped up, leaping into the roofs to cut time.

He came upon the open door of the house, heard the tell-tale sounds of infighting and, a second later, the sound of steel ripping into flesh and a gurgling, pained sound. He landed in front of the house and came upon a sight that froze him, for he didn't know what to do.

Uchiha Fugaku, a strong, confident and skilled man, was dead or dieing on the floor, a poo of blood forming under his body. On him, kneeling was Uchiha Mikoto, sobbing about her husband's death or maybe about her own soon to come demise. A step further stood the most unlikely figure, half cloaked in shadows for humans, yet plain as light to the adapted eyes of a shadow elf. It was Uchiha Itachi, the pride and joy of his clan, ANBU commander at a prodigial age, decked out in full combat ANBU gear, sword in hand and covered head to toe with blood, even his eyes seemed to be that of swirling blood. Elrad stored the fact that the sharingan in his eyes was different than normal in the back of his mind. For, unfortunately, the Uchiha prodigy was already slashing with his sword, to kill his own mother.

Elrad didn't know what to do, how to protect his mother's best friend. He couldn't use Kawarimi no Jutsu to replace himself with the Uchiha matriarch and, even if he could, the blow would kill him instead, seeing as he didn't have Kyubi's unwanted power any more. The only hope was to use Firavel's Shadow Port skill, but he couldn't. He had tried to pull it off, but he had failed every time. Raging at himself to focus, Naruto dove into the shadow stuff that was his race's magical power, diving right into it and commanding it, with such force it surprised even him, to bow to his will.

And bow it did. Naruto felt a weird sensation, like dispersing into a million pieces all traversing through time and space to recombine to a targeted area, right next to the lowering sword. He lashed out with a gloved hand, grasping the blade and knocking it away, while his left hand dove next to his boot and pulled his poisoned dagger. An instant later, while Itachi tried to withdraw his arm, Naruto's world froze again, as his concentration steeled.

It was a little known fact why Shadow Lotus Assassins could attack weakspots of their enemies without actually getting a good enough opening, like most others. They accomplished that via a rigorous training regime, combined with acupuncture, anatomical studies, Ki training and several near-toxic drugs and herbs. They increased the adrenaline production to an insane level, almost stopping time for them, so they could direct the blows with immense accuracy, regardless of positioning. Of course, it was very exhausting to perform, most being only able to do it once or twice in combat, Firavel himself, for all his magical and alchemical aid could do it a maximum of seven times before, panting, needing to rest. The strain on the muscles and hormone-producing system was just too great and many an assassin had completely torn their own muscles by pushing their limits.

With the world frozen in place, Naruto's mind went into overdrive, figuring out the best route to attack and promptly taking it. His arm flashed as Itachi tried to withdraw his arm, but it was too late and Naruto's blade bit deeply into the flesh, cutting and poisoning it, almost cutting it off from the force of the blow, but definitely severing some tendonds and muscles.

Itachi leapt back, more than a little bit surprised. He glared at the newcomer with his Mangekyou Sharingan, only to be glared back by glowing red eyes, with such ferocity he felt like a little child in the path of a red-eyed, ebon-skinned predator. He made to cast a jutsu, but the red-hot pain that shot through his cut arm stopped him, as he cringed unwillingly. He fell at one knee, his strength leaving him. "W-what?" He rasped out, surprised beyond all thought. "P-poison?"

"Yes traitor. Poison." Came the hateful reply as the figure wrapped its arms around the shocked Uchiha Mikoto. "You are dead traitor, you just don't know it."

Itachi cursed, this wasn't supposed to be how it happened. It was a complete mess of his plans. Suddenly, a new figure came at the door, a young boy by the name Uchiha Sasuke, Itachi's little brother.

"N-nii-san? What happened Nii-san? Who's that? What happened to mom and dad? Wha-"

The boy was cut off abruptly as Itachi activated his sharingan, knocking the child out and then vanishing with a shunshin, his weakened body had no strength to do much more.

Elrad sighed deeply. He felt the pain and tear from his muscles being overworked, he wasn't ready for such a move yet. Not to mention his eyes were swimming and couldn't focus due to his violent activation of Shadow Port. Grunting, he picked up Mikoto and Sasuke fireman-style and walked outside, trying to keep them from getting more hurt than they were.

Sasuke might have been hit with the genjutsu, but it was Mikoto who needed more assistance, her mind had gone into shock by the sudden and violent change of her own son, not to mention seeing her entire clan and family die mercilessly in front of her eyes. Tears streaked down her beautiful face, as her eyes were wide open and unfocused, her limbs hanging limp, her clothes ripped in places, trailing behind her in the dust. The woman was sobbing silently as she tried to comprehend what had happened to her.

Naruto had barely reached the gates to the compoud when shinobi began to surround him, creating a hemisphere on the ground and the roofs, most with weapons drawn. Some took a step forward to capture the apparent felon, until a voice stopped them. "Halt! Do not attack him!"

Sandaime Hokage had arrived, flanked by his most trusted jounin and the ANBU Captain Commander, the second strongest person in Konoha, who's identity was as secret as Naruto's own birth, well before the Sandaime had broken that law. "What's going on here Elrad?" Asked the wizened leader of Konoha. The fact that he apparently knew of the man in question was very surprising to the shinobi of Konoha.

"Good evening to you, most esteemed Hokage-sama. I am saddened to tears to reveal that aproximately ninety-nine of the Uchiha clan... has been slain tonight. There are only three survivors I am sure of. Uchiha Sasuke, his mother Uchiha Mikoto and... the apparent perpetrator of the assault... Uchiha... Itachi..."

The words shocked the people, not a few of which began crying 'liar' or 'impossible'. However, Sarutobi did no such thing. "And how would you be so sure of the attacker's identity Elrad?"

The boy took a deep breath. "I saw him... ready to kill Mikoto-san here. I managed to surprise him and land a blow with a poisoned weapon. It should have taken full effect by now, so if you hurry up, you may yet capture him. We must find out what caused him to snap like this. Meanwhile, I request assistance to take these people to the hospital. Sasuke-san was knocked unconscious by a genjutsu attack and Mikoto-san has been in shock ever since. It shouldn't be something too strong, but I am no doctor or man of medicine. Better for someone to check on them both."

The old man nodded and turned to his shinobi. "Gai, Kakashi, come here and take the injured, get them to the hospital and stay with them until the morning! Everyone else, form into teams of three and hunt down Uchiha Itachi! Anko, take Elrad here to my office, me and Tatsu **(The ANBU Captain Commander)** will need his statemens. SCATTER!"

Ninja blurred into action as they feverishly tried to hunt down what could be Konoha's greatest mass murderer after Orochimaru. Anko took Elrad by his shoulder and used **Shunshin**to take him to the Hokage's office to await her leader's arrival, calmly... well, for the most part. As soon as they were inside, she rammed Naruto onto a wall and smashed her lips onto the boy's own, enjoying the spicy taste. A few seconds later, Anko broke the kiss, sat down on the couch and dragged Naruto with her.

The purple-haired woman sighed in contentment as she sat on the couch, Naruto next to her, his head on her lap. She ran her hands through his hair, sensing his discomfort at the whole ordeal, having revealed his true form to the populace of Konoha. "So, Naru-kun, should I be jealous of my boy-toy rescuing other women?"

Naruto bolted up sputtering and blushing. "I'm not your boy-toy Anko-san! And I did what I had to do! There's nothing going on between me and Mikoto-san!"

Anko gave him one of her dangerous smiles. "Really, 'cause you looked awefully comfortable, holding her like that, I'm sure her runt was very annoying wasn't he? And here I thought our kiss a few minutes ago meant something." She began pouting, sticking her lower lip out in an attempt to look cute. "You took advantage of my maiden heart Naruto-kun! How would I ever forgive you?"

"I.. uh.. er.. well.. Anyway! It was _you_ who took advantage of me!"

"And you liked it! Shame on you, playing with a young maiden's heart like that!"

"Well, how about you? Trying to seduce a child? You should be even more ashamed! It was you who pushed me on the wall after all!"

"A child? You? But weren't you saying you were thirty years old the other day?"

"Exactly! I'm a _child_ by elf standards! And you violated me!"

A loud 'ahem' shook both out of their quarrel. There, right in the middle of the office stood Sandaime Hokage, an amused look on his face. "Lover's quarrel Anko, Naruto-kun?"

Both looked at him, pointing at each other, shouting. "She molested me!" / "He played with my heart!"

"While I would love to know what exactly happened, " Said the aged leader. "we have more pressing matters to attend do, so Elrad-kun, I need your statement on what happened, just in case something was misunderstood."

"Of course, Hokage-sama. It began while I..."

It was a short story granted, but Naruto's keen mind had memorized almost all aspects of his nightly tour. So, when he finished... "... and that's when I exited the compound. The rest you already know. Hokage-sama, if I may, if Uchiha Mikoto-san has awoken, I would like to visit her and, if possible, offer her to live in my home, along with my alter ego. I would have to brief her on the truth of my existence, but I believe it would be more beneficial to her and her son, Sasuke, if they were to live with someone else, away from the massacre's site. It could harm their psyche if they were forced to re-live every instant of it by revisiting the location and living in it. While, undoubtedly, they will have to return to it at some point in time, right now isn't that time. They have to come to grips with it and move on before being allowed to return to their home. I doubt you would like a vengeance-obsessed person with Itachi's potential in Konoha's forces, especially since Uchiha clansmen were known to not be the most... stable of people, thanks to their accursed doujutsu."

Anko looked quite distressed by it, not to mention jealous, but Sandaime had more things to consider than just one of his shinobi's dislike. "I see. I agree with your resoning Naruto-kun. You are free to visit Mikoto as soon as you want, she has been discharged, though Inoichi-san will be checking on both her and her son from time to time to ensure their recovery is normal."

Naruto bowed and made to exit, but Anko's hand stopped him. "Why are you going so far for her Naruto-kun? You have never invited me to your home and yet you would ask of her to live there after seeing her just once. Is she that better than me?"

Naruto shook his head and looked at her with sad eyes. "Nothing of the sort Anko. She's just my mother's best friend, the only person I have that can tell me more about my family. Besides, it's common courtesy, even if she never cared about me in an direct way, I know she tried to help by swaying her husband's ideas and decisions. He just proved to be too stubborn a jerk to listen to his wife."

Anko just stood, cursing herself for her assumptions, while Naruto left the office. She turned to her leader. "I messed up didn't I?"

Sarutobi gave a deep, grandfatherly chuckle. "Not nearly as much as you think. For all his changes, Naruto-kun is still notoriously easy to read sometimes. He's just stressed, he doesn't know how to react, what to do. You should go home Anko, you need your rest if you have to deal with Itachi in the off chance we get him."

In the meantime, Naruto was making good time in getting to the hospital. He may not feel the loyalty he used to, nor had he the mountain-moving friendship he had read Firavel had developed, but Mikoto was one of the last few people to have a link to his mother. He needed to talk to her, preserve his mother's memory as best as possible, even if he wasn't a human any more.

With his mind a veritable cyclone of thoughts, Naruto reached the hospital, wondering how he could break the news to Mikoto, how he could tell her who he was or offer her to live in his house. Naruto's senses were assaulted by the scents, sounds and sights of the hospital, making him flinch, since he wasn't used to all these numerous inputs. Shaking his head to clear it a bit, he went to the information desk and politely asked for Uchiha Mikoto, getting a very happy reply from the nurse. A strong contrast to how they would react to him not five years earlier. Naruto shook his head at human hypocrisy and moved along.

He found the Uchiha matriarch standing over her son's bed-ridden form, anxious, worried and fearfull. She was so deep into thought, why's and how's, that she didn't even register the gentle knock on the hospital's door. Only when a soft voice called her name did she react, startled almost leaping to the other side of the room.

"Mikoto-san? May I have a word with you?"

"W-what? Oh, it's you Naruto-kun... I... I apologize but... I, well..."

Naruto waved off her apologies and looked at the young Sasuke. "No worries, I understand. It must have been a major shock to you. I wish to offer my sincerest apologies. However, this isn't a visit to speak of the past, but of the present and future."

Mikoto looked at the youth questioningly, what could he mean. "Ano, what are you talking about Naruto-kun?"

Naruto sighed and looked at her with his almost supernaturally piercing eyes. "This is a most dreadful and emotionally trying affair Mikoto-san. It is practically impossible for neither you nor Sasuke-san to get out of this unchanged in a major way. However, one must take care to counter the greatest evils if the root of the problem can't be removed. I can completely understand that you, and Sasuke of course, have been wounded deeply, possibly permanently scarred by that night's... events. To that end, I extend an invitation to you. It would be very harmful to both you, but most importantly Sasuke's, psyche to remain in the compound for now. You would be forced to relive that occurence until you either loose your mind or find some convoluted, insane, way to maintain some form of sanity. Yes, that is why I believe you should stay in my manor, seeing as you were my mother's best friend. Think about this if you will; how do you believe Sasuke-san will react once he awakens, to find out that his beloved aniki murdered the entire clan in cold blood, including his father and almost his mother? Then being forced to live in the compound, the site which the massacre took place in, surrounded by the whispers of the dead, the loneliness and despair? He would, at best, develop some sort of obsession to deal with the stress. At worst? Complete insanity, considering his young age."

Mikoto was taken aback by the force of the monologue, the sheer passion he seemed to exude through simple words, a gift of Charisma he had inherited from his parents it seemed. "I... I see what you mean. But I don't... I don't think I'm ready to leave the compound, it's my home after all, the place where... where..."

Naruto's hand was placed comfortingly onto her shoulder, the sixteen-year-old boy understanding her plight. "I know. You are not required to immidiately reply, especially since I can understand your desire to remain near Sasuke for the time being. However, you should consider my words, at least until he awakens. Make up your mind quickly, before he is forced to re-live that massacre and possibly ruin his mental stability forever. That is all I ask. For now, farewell my mother's best friend, may Luna's light guide you."

Naruto's words left many thoughts to wonder in Mikoto's mind. For one, she couldn't understand why he cared. He had separated himself from Konoha almost completely, not trusting the hypocrites that would lick his boots for the 'glory' of being favoured by the Last Namikaze, the Kyubi-slayer. She too hadn't been as close to him as she would have liked, what with her husband and clan rules. She had deluded herself into believing that she had done all that she could to help the kid, but she realized she really hadn't tried that much. So, why did Naruto, who didn't owe her anything, try to protect her and her son? Why would he care? Maybe that boy was genuinely nice or was there an ulterior motive? And what the hell was Luna?

It took a couple of days for Sasuke to awaken, his mind having been assaulted by viscious illusions of his brother killing the entire clan. His first words when he woke up was his former aniki's name, a heart-wrenching cry of hate, betrayal and raw fury. It awoke his mother who had rushed to hug him and whisper sweet nothings to him, trying to calm the hysterical boy down.

However, that event helped Mikoto along with her choice. So, the next night, while Sasuke was asleep on his bed, the Uchiha matriarch left the hospital, intent on meeting a Namikaze heir and accepting his offer. Surely, the boy would help her son along. So, with heart pounding, she knocked on the door. Before an instant had passed however, a figure walked out of the shadows behind her, catching her by surprise.

"Greetings and salutations, Uchiha Mikoto."

"KYAAAAH!" Came the surprised reply as the woman nearly leapt into the air from fright. Down on earth, Naruto seemed to have the closest thing to a cocky smirk she had ever seen on her face, a look that was in fact only accetuating the natural rugged good looks of the teen. After her heart had calmed down enough from the almost-heart-attack, Mikoto spoke as calmly as she could. "Naruto-kun, I... I have come to accept your offer. With your help, maybe Sasuke-kun will get over the event and not get consumed by the avenger's path... My poor boy sounded so hurt, so angry... He swore to kill his brother Naruto-kun... I don't know what to do. My eldest son has killed his family and my youngest wants to kill his own brother..."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "I see. I wish it wouldn't come to it but it has and we must make do with what we have. However, do not for an instant believe I will dissuade Sasuke-san from his quest. It's something that has to be done. On the other hand, I _will_ teach him loyalty and discipline, even if I have to beat these concepts into his mind literally! Now, I believe it's getting quite chilly out here and some things are too sensitive for eavesdroppers to hear. Come with me." Naruto opened the door to the manor with a mere push of his hand, the seals on the door having identified himself as the owner.

Once inside, Mikoto was treated to the changed appearence of the entrance hall. Where once hang happy colors like pink, yellow and reds, now was a gentle silver or pure black with small blotches of red, green or deep blue to break the monotony. There were several plants lieing around, in very good health too. The couches had gone from a positively traditional theme to a more exotic and, had she known, elven theme. Browns, silvers and green colors decorated the table cloths and couch, while a couple of portraits and pictures, mostly displaying Minato and Kushina, were placed around the house. Naruto waved at a couch and Mikoto sat on it, marvelling at the softness of the fabric.

"Now," Spoke the blonde boy. " there are several rules in this house, all of which _will_ be followed or I will not hesitate to turn by benevolence to malevolence. I do _not_ make for a kind enemy I assure you. Now, rule number one; noone enters the armory or the basement. They are my lairs and my lairs alone. Ignore it and, if the traps don't, then I will kill you. Second, you are not to enter my room without my permission, it is my sanctuary and therefore untouchable. Third, this house needs maintenance so, while living here, you and Sasuke will help take care of the place. So far, I've been the only one cleaning and whatnot, but I will expect you and Sasuke to help in whatever way, be it cooking or mopping the floor. Most will be done by me, but it takes a lot of time, which would otherwise be better spent. Fourth... I have a secret that you are to not reveal to anyone, should you do so, you will be executed, as per law, since it is an S-ranked secret. I only reveal it because you are inevitably going to find out anyway. I would rather this be over and done with. Now watch and, please, do not scream too loud."

With these words, Naruto let the illusion of his Naruto persona drop, revealing his true form in all its majesty. He was tall for an elf, but only a little bit taller than the now stunned Mikoto.

The woman for herself was not only stunned, she was absolutely frozen. She remembered quite clearly the man that had saved her from death. She had thought it was a play of light, maybe an illusion or a dream, but it was true! The dark-skinned Warden of Konoha that Hyuga child had spoken so fervently of was real! And it was Naruto of all people! "How? what? Who?"

"As you have probably figured out, this is my real form. If you believe it's the result of Kyubi's death, you are wrong as the roles are reversed. The Kyubi's death is the side-effect of my... rebirth into this form. I will spare you the details as I think they are mostly unimportant but I will tell you this; I am no longer human. Thanks to Sandaime's actions, my anonimity had caused me to think I was a nameless, worthless orphan with no family or clan to speak of. As a result of this, when the chance to become a legend, even at the cost of my previous family, presented itself, I leapt to it. Long story short, I inherited the powers and duties of a very, very powerful individual and have become what's called a 'Shadow Elf'. It is this why I have no access to chakra. My... race's abilities give me other powers, but I have yet to discover them all. If you have any more questions, please, let me know. I will answer to the best of my ability."

Mikoto stood there watching the elf closely. His demeanour hadn't shifted at all, merely his shape, much like a Henge no Jutsu. His eyes had maintained the same remote calmness from before, unchanged. He had gained a few inches, but his build had thineed out considerably, giving him a wiry, toned physique. His face had acquired a angular look with almond shaped eyes and long hair cascading behind him. His skin, ebon-dark, seemed to soak up the light in the room, giving him an ephemeral look. However, Mikoto's mind also noted that his muscles were much more prominent and quite developed for a child his age, much more so than anyone else she had seen, a testament to Naruto's hard work.

"W-well... I... I didn't know... I mean, I couldn't imagine that you would..."

The boy nodded once. "Understandable. I have been very careful in concealing this form but unfortunately, I was forced to reveal it that night, though noone has made the connections. A select few know of it, but that's it. Since you and Sasuke-san will be living here, invariably you would find out about this, so I chose to let you know earlier. This form will slowly be... familiarized I think is the best word, with Konoha's populous. In time, they may learn to accept this though, having seen the depths of humanity's hypocrisy, I doubt it. Now, I believe it is quite late in the night, not a good time to move around. I humbly ask that you join me for dinner before you select your room for the night. We could go visit Sasuke in the morning."

The elf led his guest over to the kitchen for a light dinner, which paradoxically enough used candles for light, seeing as how Naruto's elven blood made him sligtly distrustful of technology, preferring the gentle heat of a flame to the cold light of a lighbulb. The dinner consisted mostly of plants and vegetables, cooked however in ways the brought out a taste Mikoto had never felt before. There seemed to be a myriad aftertastes under the unified flavour, confusing the woman's taste buds, but even so it was expertly made. Naruto chuckled slightly at her wondering face, letting her know that he had acquired a taste for more subtle flavours rather than the stronger ones, like sushi or even takoyaki.

Even though the food was mostly based of vegetables, it was quite filling and Mikoto quickly found her hunger, which had raged on for days in the hospital, die down quickly. Still, dinner was a quiet affair, little talk being made. Naruto was apparently a quiet person on his own, or simply didn't trust her enough, something she couldn't blame the child for. At least the boy was courteous enough, showing her how to enjoy the dishes the best, seeing as a human's tongue couldn't notice the subtle distinctions an elf's can. On top of that, the boy had brought out some kind of alcoholic beverage, with a thin yet strangely satisfying density that seemed to almost evaporate once it passed Mikoto's lips. Its taste though was top notch.

Once it was over, Naruto quietly took the plates and placed them under the sink to wash later. With an lithe offered hand, he took Uchiha Mikoto to the guest's wing of the manor. He let her choose her room and gave her some of his mother's night clothes before leaving to allow her some privacy.

"If you hear any sounds later on, do not be concerned. I only need four hours of sleep to be completely functional, so I will probably be spending the rest of the night training or studying. I shall wake you at daybreak." Spoke the young elf before, with an elegant bow with his hand held horizontal at waist level, he left. It would signify Uchiha Mikoto's first restful sleep in over a week.

The next morning, Uchiha Mikoto and Naruto, under his disguise of course, went to the hospital to, not only check on the former's son, but also to tell him of the news. As expected, the boy was quite against it initially.

"I refuse! I am an Uchiha! As are you mother! We must train and avenge our family by killing that traitor! It's our duty to become avengers!"

Naruto shook his head sadly. "I never said you wouldn't train. Merely _where_ you would train. Do keep in mind that your _brother_ was considered a genius, so much so that at a mere 15 years of age he was capable of annihilating the entire Uchiha clan, apparently on his own! Were it not for the mysterious warden of Konoha, both you and your mother would be dead by now. Even though you are alive, he could return at any day and, if you stay in the Uchiha compound, then the only thing you will know is Uchiha skills, something that your sibling has already surpassed. Does it not then stand to reason to learn from somewhere else, if not but to surprise him? Besides, I believe that your fight with Itachi is destiny, not the outcome, that is up to each other's skills and determination of course, but its occurence will happen. If you fight Itachi as you are now, even if your skills are a hundered times greater, you will die. A warrior's fight begins and ends with his mind."

"Oh yeah?" Cried out the child. "And how would you know huh? You're not that much older! How would you know what it means to be strong?"

Naruto sighed. "Because _boy_ I have stood in front of the endless power of the Kyubi and ignored him. Something even your oh-so-vaunted brother couldn't do! So do _not_ test me. You _will_ live in my manor with your mother and you _will_ abide by the rules, or Luna be my witness I'm going to beat humility so strong into you, your _ancestors_ will feel the blows!"

The oppresive force of personality exhuded by Naruto was so great that the young Uchiha could only nod dumbly and accept, it was like Naruto's presence towered over his, an insurpassable giant compared to a lowly ant. Unbeknownst to even Sasuke at that time, he had already found his new idol to look at.

With that business settled, Mikoto took Naruto at the compound to pack up everything. It was then she realized just how much it would have hurt Sasuke to remain there, with the phantoms of the past haunting them, like poisonous clawed fingers scratching on an open wound. At least Naruto was quite strong, able to life quite a bit despite his lithe frame, and soon enough, with the help of a few other shinobi of course, they had packed up most of their belongings and left the compoud, not to return for a long, long time.

Sasuke's relationship with the blonde was... turbulent. On one hand, the boy admired the blonde. His determination to keep going despite the loss of chakra was very inspiring, more so when Naruto would wipe the floor with Sasuke, sometimes literally in order to remind him the ever-valuable lesson of humility. On the other hand, Naruto was... strange, he would sleep at the oddest time, speak in the weirdest way and smile at things Sasuke couldn't comprehend. What was worse for the boy was that Naruto had began to develop a strong bond with his mother.

Mikoto for herself was quite troubled as well. Naruto reminded her of her deceased husband, though it was a political love-less marriage, she had come to respect and care for the man, but at the time he was also very, very different. While calm and collected, even cold at times, Naruto wasn't harsh or uncaring, if anything it was the opposite. The boy was simply loathe to trust others, open his heart and let people in. Slowly though, she had begun to sneak past the boy's defences, as evident by the fact that he gave her warm, kind smiles as opposed to uncaring looks or smirks he rewarded the rest of Konoha with. The worst thing for the Uchiha Matriarch was that she didn't know how she felt about the boy. He was young, but not overly so considering his age. He was kind and caring, knowing when to push, when to back off or when to simply rub her back soothingly when the night terrors came. He was also very kind to Sasuke, showing him when he did wrong and correcting him.

Finally, after a year since the massacre, it was Naruto's time to graduate. Sasuke still didn't know of Naruto's true self as Elrad, but that was mostly due to Mikoto's attempts and Naruto's secretive lifestyle. The boy, while he had lessened his obsession, was still quite heavily set into discovering the Warden of Konoha and defeating his brother.

Speaking of the Warden, the shadowy figure had appeared in a few other situations as well, in an attempted rape and in a revealed spy's attempted escape, both of which had ended up with the perpetrators heavily wounded, permanently crippled and utterly terrified of the 'ebon-skinned demon'. Naruto had also picked up a smattering of seals, due to his father's work with seals that gathered and stored foreign chakra or even natural energies like heat or electricity and converted them to chakra. He didn't bother much with it beyond the basics of sealing because he just wasn't that good at it. The only reason he had picked it up was to complement his other skills and because it was one of the few ninja skills he could actually use. At least, he often thought, it made carrying his poisons and weapons much easier.

At any rate, Naruto had very little dealings with the rest of Konoha, including his graduating class. He simply didn't care about their opinions of an illusion, nor about many a fangirl's attempts at wooing him. His marks in the Academy were top-notch, at least in written exams, taijutsu and weapons. His inability to use chakra however was quite heavily noted by the fools that tried to beat him, only for him to either ignore them or outright beat the living daylights out of them with ease. To that end, Naruto was given an alternate test to see if his supposed skills in infiltration, tracking and seal-crafting were adequate.

The seal-crafting test was first, which Naruto aced simply by virtue of being able to study for four hours more than anyone else and, of course, his own obsessive thinking of mastering anything he got his hands on. Of course, it should be noted, that the test was mostly on theory and application rather than crafting.

Tracking he once again aced, since Firavel had left a lot of material on tracking having himself been forced to hunt after many of his targets. A pack of Inuzuka had appointed that test, which was identification of tracks, creation and interception of escape routes and general wilderness survival. Not that hard to a trained assassin to perform, even if Naruto's skills were more directed to infiltrating a home rather than hunting his target like a wild animal.

Last was the infiltration test and what Naruto had depended on mostly. Between his Shadow Port and his skill at hiding, it would be a very easy task to complete. The test was scheduled to take place in an ANBU training ground, a house with several clone guards surrounding it. Some distance away, a small building housed the spectators, with several cameras peeking inside to let them know how Naruto would perform. Inside, were Mitarashi Anko, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Tatsu, the ANBU Captain-Commander. Why only them? Because Naruto had clearing to go all out, which meant he'd be dropping his disguise.

Naruto snuck around silently hiding away from the clone's prying eyes. Spending time to comprehend their route patterns, he timed his dash so that he'd be out of sight or sound of the perimeter. Once he was near the wall, he took out a pair of climbing claws, usefull for scaling walls and the like. With quick, practiced motions, he disappeared, climbing the walls.

In the cabin, Tatsu whistled lowly. He had seen few assassins move that gracefully and without trace. Anko was equal parts impressed and turned on, seeing the man she would definitely claim as future boyfriend more or less run up a wall with his hands. The Sandaime on the other hand, simply smirked serenely.

Once on the roof, Naruto crept slowly, hanging from the edge, coming level with the highest window. With a quick motion, and an impressive act of agility, he pulled himself in and landed soundlessly on the floor before leaping up to the ceiling and grabbing a wooden beam. Moments later, a guard came in, to see why the window was open. The clone didn't realize what had happened when a thin rope fell around its neck, strangulating it and bring it it up. Naruto, hanging upside down, quickly died the garotte wire on the beam high enough that the clone wouldn't be visible. Seconds later, the struggles ceased and the clone reverted to a rock, still suspended in the air.

Naruto landed back down on the floor and moved to the door. Seeing noone, he moved like a shadow, with quick motions, his senses fanning out as far as possible. He went down a flight of stairs to the basement and his 'objective', a trinket he was supposed to retrieve at any costs. On the way down, he met a few more guards, but a quick dart from his blowgun knocked them out with a powerful sleeping poison. Naruto made his way to the storage room, seeing a pair of guards standing at each side.

The shadow elf backed off a bit, using the concealment shadows afforded him to climb up the wall undetected. Unfortunately, the ceiling was too clear of handholds to grab on, so he was forced to hang on the wooden beams that were used for support. Taking a deep breath to stabilize himself, Naruto leapt quickly from beam to beam. On the second beam however, he slightly miscalculated, causing it to shake a bit. However, he was quickly gone before the guards could notice him. Standing above the guards, Naruto retrieved his shortstaff, correction, Firavel's shortstaff. He gave a gentle twist and it soundlessly separated into two short sticks, like a pair of escrima, with a long, sharp needle on each end. The spikes were treated with several alchemical substances to make sure they wouldn't dull or break, but maintain a very sharp edge, helpful in penetrating armor.

An instant later, a black shape had landed between the two guards. In even less time, Naruto had twirled the two weapons and stabbed them into the temples of the two guards, defeating them instantly. The boy then picked up the trinket, stored it in his vest and quickly made his way out, with long, graceful steps, almost like small leaps really. Once near the door, Naruto's face scrunched up in concentration and he vanished in a wisp of shadow-matter, only to re-appear far away from the perimeter, well at least far away that he would be safe until he could approach the 'extraction point'.

Panting from the exertion of pulling a Shadow Port while running, something he was still not used to, Naruto made his way to a grinning Hokage. He was quickly given a high grade at the infiltration mission, since he revealed he could just as easily disable as kill his target, not to mention he had displayed the uncanny ability to keep track of the perimeter guards' locations even after sneaking in a house and completing his onjective.

Given his grades, Naruto was quickly awarded a high total grade in his selected skills and given the right to become a shinobi. Sarutobi, Anko and Tatsu were quite pleased to see the boy smile warmly, having his efforts being recognized.

It was quite the celebration when he came home as well, with Naruto agreeing to unseal some of the brews he had made, the party lasting quite far into the night. None of the people living inside the Namikaze manor would remember everything that happened that day, but Naruto and Mikoto were given a strange awakening in the morning. It seemed that the inebriation of last night had caused them both to sleep on the comfortable couch, rather than their beds. Embarassingly enough... they had both slept next to each other and, in the middle of the night, snuggled up. Naruto would never have believed Sasuke could scream quite that loudly in the morning...

**A/N: Took my some time for this, sorry. My laptop kind of failed so I had to write stuff on paper before going to friends to type them out. Annoying like hell too. Anyway, it's here now. I'll probably have a new chapter for most my fics this week or the next. It's damn hard getting your inspiration back.**

**For the record, Naruto is currently at about level 5, which is the lowest level I usually allow a campaign to start with. It's where the fun begins, Wizards get Fireballs (Wand of Fireballs FTW!), Rogues become killers and Monks... Let's not start with them or Psions and Psychic Warriors. So yeah, it's where the real fun starts so I usually begin there.**

**On a similar note, I have added a poll at my profile. For all of you DnD fans, please vote on it. Thank you very much.**


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: Bloody Leaf, Striking Shadow_

Several weeks had passed since Naruto became officially accepted in Konoha's ranks. He knew little of his team, having shied away from bonding with them, they wouldn't understand him anyway. But, he respected them enough. A ninjutsu and a genjutsu specialist, very good at their field of choice. The jounin, Aoba, was also a very good teacher, helping all equally, even though teaching Naruto was hard. Which was exactly why he respected Aoba that much.

Naruto woke up early that morning, ready for another mission. He expertly put on his armor, made of light mithril to reduce encumberance, and secured his weapons. He had a feeling he'd be needing them and his instincts hadn't dissapointed him thus far. After checking over his weapons and giving them a quick maintenance, changing his bow's and crossbow's strings, sharpening his numerous shuriken and knives and finally rubbing some oil on his whip to keep if from hardening too much.

Once done, he went downstairs to the dining room, to get himself some breakfast. There, he found Mikoto, already up, taking some baked bread from the oven. It was one of her own recipes, sweetened bread, much like cinammon rolls. They contained honey and various other ingredients that Naruto never quite found out, but it not only tasted great and kept for long, but it also was a great source of energy. His team had never had to suffer through rations, one slice of that bread was very filling.

"Good morning Mikoto-chan. The bread smells wonderfull, may I have a loaf for my team meeting later on?"

The woman smiled at the boy, she was quite happy that morning. "Of course, you know I make more for them anyway."

Naruto enjoyed a healthy breakfast, feeling re-energized and ready to face today's troubles. He wrapped the bread in some long leaves, like those of a coconut tree really. It kept food fresh and cool regardless of situation, something that Naruto was very, very greatful for. Hearing Sasuke wake up, Naruto made for his alchemist's lab, to see how some of his projects were going. It was a large, cool, basement floor, with a large bookcase on the side, filled with books. All around the large room were beakers, burners and various other alchemical tools, while next to them was a storage room. He had also had a 'blast room' made for testing his creations as well as a stabilizing room, a room almost completely disconnected from the house, kept in very precice conditions to make sure nothing harmed the volatile or sensitive mixtures inside.

And it was in that room that Naruto went in, checking various barrels and beakers, nodding approvingly and checking his progress. It was all going well, for now at least. His greatest creation was still several years from being completed, but something that Naruto knew would make Sandaime a very, very happy person.

Once done with his inspection, Naruto left the basement, finding Sasuke having breakfast with his mother. A quick goodbye and he was gone, off to his team's training grounds.

An hour later, Naruto was standing in front of the Hokage, along with his team. A short dicussion later and he was leaving the office with a C-ranked mission, a small smile on his face. It was supposed to be a simple bandit elimination, relatively close to Konoha, just a few miles out of the patrol perimeters.

Naruto and his team left the village in full run, wanting to get to the bandits, beat them up and get back home before dinner. Naruto's tracking skills were to be especially useful in finding the main camp, while his alchemical creations would give them a bit of extra firepower without wasting chakra or explosive tags.

Once they reached the last known sighting area, the team swiftly dispersed to find the camp easier. Naruto of course spearheaded the search, having a significantly superior eye-sight than his team-mates and being better trained in tracking. Not an hour after their usual lunchtime, the group was standing outside the camp, Naruto having quietly dispatched the guards, using poisoned needles and a blowgun to put them to sleep, one they'd wake up from in prison.

As soon as Naruto got the go-ahead signal, his bow blazed into action as he began firing arrow after arrow. His aim was true and a pair of gambling bandits fell over before they even realized what was going on, an arrow lodged in their respective necks. He didn't stand though, instead using his mobility and leaping from branch to branch to get better angles and avoid detection.

In the other side of the camp, where the leaders would be, Aoba charged in, kunai in hand, ready to take out the strongest opponent and leaving the small fry to his gennin. To his left and right respectively was Kimaru, the team's ninjutsu specialist, and Hinamori, the team's kunoichi genjutsu user. The two of them charged, Kimaru unleashing jutsu after jutsu to confuse the enemy and Hinamori striking them down from behind cover.

In mere moments, Aoba was done with his target and so were Hinamori and Kimaru. Naruto was at the moment finishing up on his side, using a submission hold with his whip to send his last enemy to unconsciousness. The four ninja gathered in the middle of the center of the camp, looking around them. Hinamori and Kimaru were obviously pleased, they hadn't killed anyone and instead subdued their targets quickly. Aoba and Naruto on the other hand were much more worried, it had been too easy, way too easy compared to what they had expected. It was almost it had been a set up...

Suddenly, Aoba's eyes widened as he instinctively leapt away, quickly followed by Naruto. Kimaru and Hinamori weren't as lucky and got stabbed by a bunch of kunai that erupted from the ground, collapsing in a large puddle of blood.

Aoba cursed some more, seeing two of his gennin go down before the fight even started, four enemy ninja appearing behind the fallen gennin. The downed gennin groaned in pain and cursed their stupidity in getting caught by the trap.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A bunch of tree-huggers playing at ninja." Spoke the apparent leader of the group, a man wearing an Iwa headband, with a slash in the middle, a nuke-nin. Like most Iwa ninja, he was well-built and very muscular, a must for the doton his village specialized in.

The man was surrounded by a trio of other Iwan nuke-nin, each with his own scratched forehead protector. From their stances, Naruto deduced that they weren't much of a challenge if he got the drop on them, or if his squad was at good health. Unfortunately, neither of them was true, so with an imperceptible move to his sensei, Naruto's hands blurred into motion, interrupting the self-important speech of the Iwa leader, something that surprised him greatly too. A couple black shapes flew towards the gathered ninja, exploding into a large burstof smoke as soon as they hit the ground. The smoke was tainted wtih a powerful sleeping agent, though not a very stealthy one as it smelled quite heavily.

Of course, as soon as the smoke was emitted, the ninja vacated the area, allowing Aoba to move in with a quick shunshin and extract his students. In the time it took for the Stone squad to regroup and refocus on Naruto and the others, the Leaf ninja were gone, either by Shunshin or by a truly agile leap into the surrounding trees.

Running away from the Iwa squad, Aoba grunted with the weight of his students. The sleeping gas had hit them head-on, knocking them out almost instantly, turning them into dead weight in the process. However, he also knew that Naruto couldn't transport them since he couldn't use chakra to strengthen his muscles. A number of trees ahead, Naruto shot out of a tree-trunk and landed in front of the jounin. With quick hands, he began removing several trap implements, like small spools of ninja wire, a bit of thin rope, some spare kunai and what seemed to be a rolled-up ball of rope.

"Sensei, go ahead, I will deal with them. You need to take both Kimaru and Hinamori to the medics or they may not make it. Do not worry, I _am_ an assassin after all."

Aoba tried to disagree, but he was promptly ignored by the blonde who began setting up a few basic traps, using nearby tree branches, leaves and his trusty wire. Knowing how stubborn the blonde could be, Aoba left quickly, planning to use whatever opening he could get so he would be able to reach the closest ANBU patrol and get some backup for the kid.

Once the traps were set, Naruto took out his trusty bow, stringed it, hid behind some leaves and sent a small prayer to Corellon Larethian, the elven god of war.

The first Iwa ninja didn't take too long to arrive, his demeanor obviously excited for getting to kill a Konoha shinobi so close to their own Hidden Village. He didn't calculate however, for an arrow shot through the trees, lodging itself into his calf, ripping through the bone and crippling him, maybe even killing him judging by the blood that came out.

The next Iwa ninja stopped right above his colleague, trying to help him. Exactly where Naruto had placed his first trap. It was quite simple really, a bent tree branch with one end holding a weight with a bit of ninja wire tied around it.. The other end of the wire was placed so it would loop around its target's head and strangle him if not out right decapitate him. A shuriken, thrown silently through the trees cut the thin rope that held down the tree branch. The Iwa nin barely had a second to wander 'Huh?' before the branch snapped back into place, throwing the weight next to his head, causing it to loop around his neck and knock him off the branch. The fall, while short, caused the loop to tighten and dig into the ninja's neck. Which was more than enough to sever the arteries of the neck and kill him via exsanguination.

The shinobi leader growled and cursed his stupid subordinates, how could they have been caught off guard like that? "Fuck. Toma, keep your eyes open, the fuckers are better than we thought."

Toma didn't reply immidiately, on account of an arrow lodging itself into his shoulder, ruining his arm. The man screamed in pain as he clutched his arm in pain, hiding behind his leader in the hope that he'd be protected. The ringleader quickly grabbed his two associates and vanished in a blur of wind and leaves, trying to get away from the entrapped area.

Naruto cursed as he strung his bow to his back and moved to reclaim the traps he had laid en route to him. However, the three surviving Iwa shinobi hadn't calculated for an elf's keen eyesight when they took refuge behind a large tree. Finding them easily, Naruto quickly relocated so he could have an easier time hitting them, thanking Firavel for teaching him how to use the longbow. It may be hard to carry around, but it had paid for its encumberance many times over by striking out of an enemy's 'danger sense' zone.

Naruto took out an arrow and removed the tip before searching into one of his pockets, retrieving a weird-looking arrow tip. It was longer and thicker than others and made of glass rather than metal. In the inside was trapped a dark red viscous liquid, one the young elf knew to be called Alchemist's fire. It was a compound that built on the idea of Greek Fire, a viscous, sticky liquid that ignited on contact with air and burned for some time. It would make the arrow front-heavy, cutting significantly into his accuracy and range, but the bow still had a range of more than 90 feet without significant reduction in the strength of the pull.

Naruto carefully notched the arrow and pulled back the string, behind his ear. His left eye closed while his right one narrowed to a slit. Naruto's breathing slowed as he focused. His ears almost twitched with the wind, feeling the gentle caress of the forest breeze on his skin and calculating for its presence. The archer took in a slow, deep breath and his hands stabilized before his fingers released the string.

The arrow sailed through the air swift and true, the feathers on its tail causing it to stay on target, moving with impressive force.

Fifty feet, fourty feet, thirty feet, twenty feet and the shinobi realized that the low whistling sound wasn't from the forest. The older ninja's eyes widened and he leapt away on instinct, dodging the arrow. However, Naruto had aimed so that even if he missed the ringleader, he would place the injured team-member into the course of the missile.

The Iwa-nin's eyes widened as he saw an arrow's shaft protrude less than five inches from his comrade's body, indicating the immense strength with which it was launched, before the man burst into flames from the inside out.

"W-what the fuck?" Asked the terrified man. This had to be some sort of ANBU killing off his team. After all, only an ANBU would have such accuracy with such an exotic weapon, not to mention being able to completely suppress his chakra. He glanced at his injured teammate and gulped. However, he thought, for their hunter to not have come out of hiding in so long, maybe it meant that he was scared of facing them directly.

With a quick motion, the leader of the team kicked his remaining teammate out of their cover and dashed to where he expected their hunter to have been. With any luck, their persecutor would strike the wounded idiot so that he could close in and kill the bastard.

As the jounin predicted, an arrow flew swiftly from the trees and landed between the eyes of his wounded teammate, taking him down with a gurgle and few spasms. His target's last known position firmly in his eyes, the jounin rushed to bring down his pursuer before he too died by a stray arrow.

Elrad cursed sharply. He barely had enough shadow essense to perform a shadow teleportation and refresh his disguise. He dropped his longbow, ignoring the sound of wood on wood, knowing that his enemy knew where he was. His hands flashed to his hips, withdrawing a pair of long two-pronged knives, which he had of course poisoned before hand. He knew he was no match for a jounin yet, but he would be damned if he fell so soon. He would be a legend beyond all others, he would not loose. He would win!

Naruto's muscles tensed as he entered his battle mode and leapt at the charging jounin, meeting him in the air.

Blades clashed and sparks flew. The man's face was quite surprised at the being he saw charge from the trees, but he quickly smirked as he defended against the boy. His smirk was quickly wiped out however, as the slit that ran in the middle of Elrad's blades caught his kunai like a pair of sai. Naruto used his enemy as a counterweight to kick at the nuke-nin's side, his boot's hidden blade coming out to greet the man.

"Argh!" Cried out the jounin, surprised. The blow had come way too close to his kidney for comfort, but he was quick to roll with the blow and avoid it. He landed on a tree branch, glaring at his enemy, his kunai taken away from him during the altecration by a swift twist of Naruto's hands. "Damn you brat! I'm gonna kill you!" He cried out in range.

Naruto settled in a defencive stance, right leg slightly extended forward, arms crossed and the blades held in reverse. His eyes narrowed as he saw the man ignore the poisoned wound he had received, he must have had poison resistance training.

The two clashed again, the jounin spinning quickly to give momentum to his quick stabs, just as Naruto spun around him, trying desperately to avoid getting hit. The blades clashed again and again, occasionally getting locked, both trying to push back their opponent. While Naruto was much stronger than his light frame would ever reveal, he wasn't up to his opponent's level. His muscles screamed in pain but he ignored them.

Leaping to the side, away from a viscious kick that would have hit him at the groin or stomach at least, he rolled to the side, around his enemy, his knives spinning on the top of his palms as if they were glued. With a viscious cross-cut, he slashed at his enemy's tendons right above the ankle, reducing the ninja's mobility.

"Argh! You fucking freak! I'm gonna destroy you!" The man roared as he called his chakra, flashing through several quick handsigns, invoking his jutsu. "**Doton: Iwa no Yoroi (Earth Style: Stone Armor!**" Stone seemed to flow upwards from his feet, covering him and protecting him from the dangerous blades. He quickly spun on his heel and gave a powerful, stone-covered punch to the sternum.

Naruto 'oof'ed, rolling back, his ribs bruised and hopefully not cracked. He quickly dropped his knives and growled almost ferally. He took out a fistfull of shuriken and launched them at his enemy, clicking his tongue in annoyance as he saw them bounce off his enemy, not leaving even a chink on the armor. Seeing no alternative, he removed his shortstaff from his back holster. Spinning it expertly, he fell on a basic opening stance, deceptively simple, holding it diagonally in front of his body.

The jounin blinked at the boy's weak stance and charged, failing to see the hint he gave to his opponent. However, his cut-up tendons didn't help much, slowing him down for Naruto to ready himself.

The nuke-nin's fist smashed on the staff, fully expecting it to snap under his strength. He was quickly taught the error of his way, as Naruto spun quickly with the force of the man's strike and used ther other end of his weapon to strike the man's underbelly, pushing him back. Elrad shifted legs, bring his weapon to bare and strike his enemy at the weak point he had created, right behind the knee. The jounin however was far too experienced to fall over just like that. He managed to stabilize himself, but was momentarily unable to defend himself. The staff-like weapon cut through the air and suddenly had a spear-like tips on each end. Elrad placed his foot behind the buckled knee, using it as leverage to literally climb on the man. He gripped the weapon surely and slashed him at the eye, the one place where stone hadn't covered.

The man screamed and thrashed wildly, throwing Naruto off of him as he rolled on the ground. Drops of blood fell from his ruined eye as he cursed. He clutched his eyehole and glared at the boy. He called on his chakra and slammed his fist on the ground, manipulating the earth to launch spikes from underneath the boy.

Elrad flipped backwards avoiding the spike and dodging them, leaping left and right. After the barrage had finally ended, the elven assassin closed in quickly with the man. He had managed to get up, reclaiming a bit of sanity through his rage. He didn't get a chance to fight properly however as the young elf decided to finish it as quickly as possible; giving time to the jounin to recover his thoughts and unleash a bunch of jutsu wouldn't really be good for his health. Also, at least one poisoned wound should have started acting up by now. With a twist, he separated the staff into two shorter sticks, bringing out the combat spikes that were hidden inside. The alchemically-hardened spikes were perfect for penetrating armor, thick skin and, hopefully, stone-covered skin.

He spun the two weapons on his hands, setting into a full-offence stance. He breathed out and closed his eyes in concentration. When they snapped open, the world fell into focus as Naruto's combat mode cancelled out all distractions.

Konoha's Warden charged, his blades spinning on his arms. He dodged to the side and spun himself clockwise, stabbing his enemy's calf. Taking advantage of his surprise, he moved behind his enemy and gave him a good slash at side of his neck with a jabbing motion of his left weapon. The man cursed as he turned around to hit Elrad, only for the young elf to lean back like a gymnastics specialist and kick up before grapping the man's face with his feet, then using it to throw himself under the jounin's legs, slashing upwards as he did.

The man cursed and charged his chakra to his arms, using one of his most powerful techniques, changing their shape and creating a huge, spiked ball on each arm. He swung heavily, his speed being surprisingly high for someone with so much weight on his hands. The elf swiftly dodged under and to the side before trying to find a way to properly hit his enemy.

Naruto sighed, he didn't like entering that state of mind, but in this fight of 'eat or be eaten', he knew he didn't have much choice in the matter. His eyes closed as his stance ended. The jounin, thinking the boy had given up charged, head first, to smite the boy that had struck him so much, blinded him and killed his pathetic subordinates. As the club-like apendage came down, the boy's eyes snapped open with unbelievable focus, piercing through the man.

Time slowed down for Naruto, his mind going several thousand rounds a second. He calculated attack vectors, motion, chance, counters, counters to counter attacks, dodges, angles and physics. The boy burst into motion, dodging by a hair, before moving inside the man's guard. His weapons spun and he stabbed with the spear-end twice, between the ribs, hitting him and pushing the man back. After that, he leapt up, his body spinning like a top, lashing out with a simultaneous strike to the man's temples. As his foe reeled back, Naruto took a step back before charging at his enemy, his hands shifting the hold on his spiked weapon, bringing the combat spikes to bear for a downward attack.

As the Iwa jounin tried to get his bearings back, he saw his small-sized foe leap at him. He raised his arm in defence, but that was expected as the ebon-skinned freak stepped on it and tumbled off it, turning upside down over his head. The man didn't immidiately feel the pain of a pair of combat spikes stabbing deep inside him and reaching his heart. He did however feel some sort of belated revenge, as his other arm caught the tumbling boy full on the chest, sending it rolling away from him.

Naruto rolled on the ground weakly. Even though the assassin's training regime taught him well and focused his aggressiveness beyond normal limits, that same offencive mind didn't let him focus on defence any more than he did outside combat. In other words, while he could strike an enemy as if he was unmoving and therefore weak, he couldn't defend himself any better than he normally could. Naruto gasped a bit as his blood flowed out.

The elf got himself upright and took out his healing salve. He had given most of it to his jounin sensei to help his team-mates, leaving him with a single dose. Quickly he applied it on his wound before tying it up, preventing it from aggravating itself. He walked to his enemy, the man's jutsu now over with his death, and took out a sealing stroll and a long blade, a longsword from Firavel's time. He used the blade to decapitate him and the rest of the deceased team before sealing them into special scrolls. Then, after re-combining his short staff, he began the long walk back home.

At the gates, Sarutobi was anxious. He was ready to send out a bunch of ANBU to recover his figurative grandson, having heard the news from Aoba. He was ready to give them the sign to disperse, when a lone, recognizable figure made its way out of the foliage. Naruto seemed to be bleeding from his chest, his staff being what kept him upwards. Seeing his state, the Hokage rushed to the barely conscious boy. He wrapped his cloak around the boy and performed a quick **shunshin**, taking him to his home.

Inside the Namikaze mansion, which now had been called Uchiha-Namikaze compound by the civilians, bringing a small blush at the Uchiha matriarch's face every time she heard it, Mikoto was cleaning the home, waiting for her son and landlord to come home from their respective duties. She was very surprised when she heard the doorbell ring throughout the house and ran to the door fearing the worse. A fear that came true as she saw Sandaime walk in, wounded Naruto in his arms. She quickly made way for the old man and led him to Naruto's room

It had been a bit after their night drinking together that Naruto had allowed the woman entrance to his sanctum. She had marveled at the exotic items that had filled it, like a tree that apparently grew on hard stone and had filled the room. Emblems, mementos of Firavel's travels, hang from the walls. The tome, with words that spoke of blades and shadow lied on a pedestal in plain view, almost glowing with power.

The kage set Naruto down on his bed, watching him wince as he moved. Other than some worry about poison however, he was quite calm about it, he knew that Naruto would never go down without a fight, even if he was in a different body. Mikoto however... the woman was frantic. She shot worried glances and ran her mind through a thousand complications. She almost dashed out the room to start getting new bandages and what not. Sandaime chuckled good naturedly a bit. She didn't even realize it yet, did she? Oh that was going to be _so_ worth looking at when Anko came back!

Naruto opened his eyes to see the Sandaime looking at him. "H-hokage-sama... I... took them down. They are sealed in a scroll on my hip. Mission complete. How are my team-mates?"

The aged man laughed heartily. "Yes, well Naruto-kun. You did well, I will give you the bounties first thing in the morning. As for Kimaru and Hinamori however, they were wounded. They are not in danger, but they will be out of comission for a few months. The blow had struck part of their spines, so they will need time to heal naturally."

"I... see..." Replied the boy. "Forgive me Hokage-sama, but I must rest. My body cannot benefit from a second dose of healing salve at the moment so I must heal the rest naturally."

The old man was ready to nod wisely, when Uchiha Mikoto more or less barged into the room, her hands heaped with bandages and ointments of all kinds.

"Naruto-kun! Lay down now! I will treat you so you don't have to do anything alright?"

Hearing her tone, Sarutobi chuckled at Naruto's miserable look of 'help', before turning on his heel and leaving. _'Poor, poor Naruto-kun... I knew him well... At least it's going to be fun watching the fireworks!'_ So went the thoughts of the wizened leader as he went to his office to let a certain Interrogations specialist know about Naruto's wounded state.

A couple of hours later, Mitarashi Anko found herself in the in front of Naruto's home, banging on it relentlessly to be allowed inside. When Mikoto opened, she charged inside, before looking around, trying to find Naruto's home.

"Ano... excuse me? Who are you?" Asked Mikoto, surprised by the woman's attire, and antics.

"Mitarashi Anko and don't you forget it! But, where's Naru-kun? He's injured, where is he? Come on, tell me!"

Mikoto's visage hardened because Naruto-kun was injured and he needed his rest, or so she said to herself. "Naruto-kun is injured. You are not allowed to see him yet!"

"Now, listen here sis," Began the jounin. "I don't care if you're an Uchiha or you're living here. But Naru-kun is _mine_ and I want to see him. Now!"

"You will stay away from Naruto-kun you... you... argh, there are no words to describe you even! Now get out! Naruto-kun is heavily injured and I must return to his side!" Came the explosive reaction.

"Ah-ha! So you admit it! You want him for yourself don't you! I won't let you have him! Naru-kun is _mine_!"

"H-how dare you! I would never do such a thing! Now get out of my house you skank!"

Anko's eye twitched as she almost drew a kunai at the insult, ready to run the woman through. Before he had a chance to however, a small flash of silver before her eyes drew her attention.

At the top of the stairs was Naruto, standing with his hand extended after throwing the shuriken. He looked positively incesed with the women's cries. "Would both of you ladies calm down, sit down and stop worrying yourselves so much? Your cries could wake up the dead themselves! Now, I hope you've calmed down a bit because I will not have you killing each other in my house!"

When Naruto turned on his heel and went back to his room thinking _'Why me?'_, Anko turned back at her rival, glaring. "Now look at what you did! He's angry!" She hissed.

Mikoto of course couldn't let it go like that. "Me? You were the one that barged in here!"

"Yeah, but you began shouting first!"

"No, you did!"

Soon after, the whole argument degenerated into a trade of insults that, thankfully for Naruto's peace of mind, was conducted in a relatively silent manner. The fight continued until Sasuke came back from the Academy. He blinked at his mother's angry face and decided to play it safe; he went to the kitchen and prepared a meal for four, hoping that whoever pissed off his mother wouldn't bring the house down.

About an hour of traded insults later, the meal was ready and Sasuke tip-toed around his mother to get to Naruto. He knocked on the door a couple of times and told his 'landlord' that food was on the table. He knew he would never be allowed inside the room, but he didn't really care; everyone was allowed to their secrets after all.

Moments later, Naruto came out of his room, wearing a pair of black pants and no shirt, having wrapped his chest with bandages. Seeing him, both women stopped arguing and instead chose to glue their eyes on his chest. Well, for a few seconds that is, because as soon as they realized what they were doing, they glared at each other, the lightning bolts between their eyes being almost visible. Poor, poor Sasuke didn't know why his mother was acting up like that.

Lunch was a quiet affair, as it always was in the home. Naruto valued silence and really hated too much arguing, especially over food. Not to mention it would hopefully give the two hormonal women some time to cool off and return to civilized conversational patterns. Though, to be honest, he really didn't have much hope of that...

After eating was over, Naruto wordlessly picked up the plates and began washing them, trying to find a way to get the two women to stop glaring daggers, katanas and even the occasional nodachi at each other. He sighed, why were women so... troublesome? Once he was done with that chore, he gave Sasuke permission to go train at the grounds behind the mansion. Picking up a tray with some tea, he motioned the two still arguing women to the sitting room.

"So, mind you two ladies telling me why you have been arguing so strongly in the past hour or two?" Asked a now calm Elrad.

"W-well... I..." Stammered both Anko and Mikoto, trying to find a way to tell the boy about their disagreements without revealing too much. Especially Mikoto. While it hadn't been too long, she had moved on from her husband's death and was looking to the future. However, every time she saw Sasuke or walked past the Uchiha compound, memories of her past would flash in front of her eyes reminding her of what she had lost in a single night, to her own son none-the-less. Fortunately for her, Naruto had been there to comfort her and keepher sanity intact. She cared for the youngling, she knew she did. She was also jealous of Anko and infuriated at the jounin's attempt to visit the shadow elf so early. She might claim that it was due to his injuries, but she knew better. It was because she didn't want that woman near her 'benefactor'.

Anko on the other hand had far simpler her, it wasn't about the Namikaze name, Elrad's skills or even the 'danger' and 'excitement' of dating him with all the mysteries included, nor was it about the boy being young, she might be a lot of things but not a pedophile. No, to her, Naruto was a symbol. He stood strong with so many things against him, the psychological warfare from an entire village, becoming not-human with all that meant. Being courageous enough to keep on even then. It was about the boy being perfect boyfriend material, regardless of age, due to his dedication and yet calmness. She knew Naruto wasn't 'sane' by the standards of most people. His 'insanity' was like a healing, cool balm on her troubled soul. He was fire and water, two opposites that mingled oh-so-seductively to the jounin. Unlike Mikoto, Anko had a very good grasp and understanding of her emotions and the power and weakness that came from such a fact. So, she knew she wanted to be with the boy. Since a relationship was the only way to do so, she would gladly enter it and sacrifice mind, body and soul to it.

Naruto looked at the two stuttering women in front of him and sight. "It doesn't matter any more anyway. You two have certain... disagreements and, dare I say, competitive reactions. I will not push either way. But remember; we are civilized. I will not tolerate such behaviour in my house, nor will I allow it to alter my relationship with either of you. Now, I apologize but I must go and continue my rest. Mikoto, take care of the house please, Anko, don't scar Sasuke, he carries enough on his back."

Naruto got up gracefully and left quickly, before either woman had time to convince him to stay, they'd be able to do it easily too. He cared for them both, but for different reasons. Anko called to his more feral side, the side that called for blood, combat and fire. Mikoto, on the other hand called to his more aristocratic side, the one thought, grace and cool.

Sasuke chuckled lightly as he practiced. His mother was acting like a love-struck girl lately. Though he'd never admit it, Naruto had been more of a father to him than Fugaku ever was. Fugaku never saw 'Sasuke', he only saw the 'Uchiha second heir'. That had hurt the boy more than he cared to admit. That wasn't to mean that he didn't love his father, quite the opposite. But he had changed idols. Now, Naruto was the person he looked up to the most. After all, who could claim to have seen the might of Kyubi no Yoko and not develop at least a minor phobia towards foxes? But Naruto had endured not only that but also the hate of the entire village and came out relatively unscathed. Not to mention he could kick his ass easily without chakra and the like.

So, Sasuke approved of Naruto and his mother becoming close. At least to some degree. He knew his mother wouldn't ever forget his father, he still heard her cry some nights, just as he heard Naruto provide both the Uchiha with comfort and support. After all, he still remembered that incident where he claimed that 'Naruto wasn't his father'. The boy chuckled again. It had been part of the most vicious beating he had ever received, as well as one of the greatest eye-openers.

_Flashback ~ 6 montsh ago~_

_Sasuke stood against Naruto in the sparring room. The boy was panting hard in exhaustion while Naruto was simply breathing hard. Sasuke scowled. He had not landed one hit, not one decisive blow!_

_"D-damn it... Why can't I hit you?" he cried out._

_"Foolish. You let your emotions blind your actions instead of guiding them. Until you let go of your hate and put a leash over it, you will never be a threat to me, or anyone for that matter." The chiding tone that came from the blonde was quite irritating to the Uchiha scion._

_"Shut up! You know nothing! Don't patronize me!" The desperation was quite audible to Naruto's ears._

_"Oh? I think I know enough. Besides, it is _you_ who does not grasp the weight of the situation. Therefore, it is natural that I tell you what to do, since you apparently are incapable of doing so on your own."_

_Sasuke snapped at Naruto, in mad rage. "Shut up!" He screamed. "Don't order me around! You're not my father!"_

_Sasuke would have said more were it not for the absolutely freezing look on Naruto's eyes. The blonde had never seemed so... terrifying. Then Sasuke could barely think any more as his trainer blazed into action, ripping his defences like paper and landing devastating blows on the boy. Naruto was everywhere and nowhere, up, below, left, right,front or back, following his motions was impossible. He came from everywhere at the same time, strking and changing direction faster than Sasuke could ever think possible._

_Then... it ended. Fists and kicks stopped battering the boy's figure as he lay on the floor, beaten and defeated._

_"I never had any intention of becoming your father Sasuke. Nor do I especially like you. However, your mother was my own mother's best friend. I also happen to like her quite a lot. So, to protect your mother's happiness, I'll train and help have become so self-absorbed that you don't even notice your mother crying at nights, or don't care to do anything about it! Listen here kid, I'm not replacing your father, nor will I ever. Now concentrate. A true warrior would never loose control of their emotions nor let slip clues as to their thoughts. It is not so much my improved physical skills that I use as much as knowing you. I know where you will look so I am not there. I know where you will attack so I am not there. I know how you will defend, so I do not attack there. All that is possible by watching your enemy closely. Not merely looking at them, but through them. Let go of preconceptions for they only blind you. See not only the side that is portrayed to your eyes, but look at things in their entirety, and the hidden truths will reveal themselves to you, opening up a myriad of paths to travel."_

_Sasuke made to get up as Naruto handed him a jar of healing cream. "Today's lesson is over. We shall not have another lesson, nor will you be allowed inside this room until you understand the meaning of my words and embrace them. Until that time, there is nothing more I can teach you."_

_Flashback End_

Sasuke had raged for weeks after that incident. But, in the end, he did as Naruto told him to. The Namikaze didn't want to be his father or his brother. He would not be substitute to anything or anyone. He was as he was and he was _genuine_. Be it praise or not, be it joy or sadness, Naruto was the one thing Sasuke could depend on always saying the truth. It might be in roundabout ways, but he did speak the truth. It was a couple of months later than that realization that Sasuke's abilities began to take off. Before, he was very good at Taijutsu, now he was untouchable. Before, he was excellent at Ninjutsu, now he was perfection. Before, his written tests were in the top five, now his written, psychological and even philosophical scores were off the Academy charts. And it was then that Sasuke began to let go of his anger. Not forgetting it mind you. But detaching himself from it. His and Itachi's confrontation would come in its own time. Until then, Sasuke would not chase after his brother, since that would limit him to Itachi's level. Instead, he would train, learn and _live_ until he had surpassed his own limits.

The raven-haired boy was shaken out of his reverie when he saw Mikoto sit across Naruto in the main hall, one of the blonde's favourite relaxation places.

"Naruto-kun... I have something I wish to ask of you and I don't want you to be insulted..." Began the Uchiha matriarch, causing the disguised elf to raise an eyebrow in question.

"Unless it is something grave, I would not be insulted Mikoto-chan, fear not. Please, tell me so that I may aid you."

"W-well... you see... It's not that I don't appreciate you having us here or anything... but I want to open a business of my own. I... I don't know how to say it but..."

"You want some independence correct? I knew that day would probably come and I am not disappointed or angry, in fact I am proud of you. Very well, I have no objection to it, but, pray tell, please tell me what it is you had in mind?"

The woman looked rather embarassed by her next words. "W-well... I was always good at making pastries and such... so I thought I could open a small bakery..."

Naruto's smile reassured the woman that she did not do anything wrong. "That is an excellent idea! If you want a starting sum of money to begin, please, let me know. If it is to your agreement, I could also provide you with several of my alchemical mixtures that are edible. Think of me as less of a partner, but rather a very close business associate in that endeavour if you wish to be the sole owner. My desire is merely to assisst you, not take your labour's importance away."

"W-well... we... we'll see. It's still in the plans, I haven't even got a proper place for it yet..." Stutteed Mikoto. She hadn't expected Naruto to be so forthcoming of help to her. After all, when she had presented that idea to her husband, he had laughed at her and said that it was 'unbecoming' of an Uchiha noble such as herself. She mentally shook her head, Naruto-kun wasn't Fugaku. Both might have been as nobles, but there were so many differences between them.

It took little time for Mikoto to rent her shop. Between the Uchiha clan's funds and Naruto's... offencive negotiations, the shop was furnished and prepared in no time at all. Apart from her own baked goods, which included sweet bread, cinammon rolls and various other tasty treats, Naruto also gave her some of his own alchemical creations. From energy candies that almost shocked people into hyperactivity to alchemically treated breads that could substitute a whole meal with just a slice to even candy of almost any flavour. It even sold 'warrior's chew' a gum-like creation that numbed pain, helped focus and re-energized the imbiber. In less than two weeks, Mikoto's bakery had become famous across the entire village, it not only cattered to civilians but to shinobi as well. Some shinobi even claimed that eating a 'fire lizard', an extremely spicy cinammon roll like pastry actually helped with their Katon jutsu. The name of the shop? "Swirling Flames".

The colaboration between the Uchiha and Namikaze was cause for many an acid-tongued gossip girl's stories about the infidelity of the Uchiha matriarch and the seduction skills of the Namikaze heir. Those women were often paradoxically enough stopped by Anko herself; she would have known if the two had actually done anything and even the mere possibility of such an event drove her to an almost berserk state.

Naruto's recovery from the fight with the Iwa nuke-nin went by fast, his creams helping him along more than just about any doctor. His team-mates however took much longer to recover and reenter active duty. Enough that Naruto missed his first Chuunin Exams and, seeing as how most Konoha teams had become unbalanced, was forced into another team. They would still occasionally meet, but they left each other in peace; they might have been a good team and had teamwork, but none of them became attached to the others. To Naruto, that was a blessing, for it helped him keep his secret from them safe.

As for Konoha's Warden? His appearences were sporadic and unpredictable, never leaving any witnesses, but he was there. Occasionally, during midnight, you could see a shadowed figure standing over the Fourth's head, watching over the village. Those who somehow got to see more details spoke of dark eyes, dark hair and ebon-like skin, dressed in exotic finery. It was these appearences that slowly reduced the shock of hearing about the Warden, though they took away nothing of his mystery. Naruto would quietly chukle to himself when hearing little boys talking about Konoha's Warden as if he were a comic hero. He was anything but.

**A/N: I apologize for the time of inactivity. My world changed rather abruptly and as a result I fell out of favour with my muse.**

**In the meantime, I have been introduced to Tome of Battle and its wonders. So, later on, it will be making an appearence along with several maneuvres of my own creation or discovery. I found the whole material to be great help to the Assassin Archetype I was trying to make so there will be some things from it. It may create several discrepancies in the flow of the story and, should that happen, I humbly ask for your help so that I may fix it.**

**By the way, a belated Merry Christmas and a very, very happy New Year to all of you.**


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: Growing Tree, Growing Shade_

_Elrad Duali's Diary, Entry 214, Age 14/32_

_What a successfull day, this was. During my meditations, I came across a pocket of energy, left over from the demon Kyubi. Apparently, even though the Fourth's seal collapsed, it being made for a human and me ceasing to be one, some parts of it kept working. Namely, the purging sections of the seal. They kept working for a few seconds after its collapse, enough time for Firavel to destroy the Kyubi and liberate, in a sense ,a bit of its power. A bit for the demon, but a great amount for anything else._

_However, the seal, even though it was made to purify demonic energies, had no 'template' by which to turn it into. Due to me ceasing to produce 'chakra', though I believe a more proper term would be 'chakra energy' as the chakra themselves are key locations on the body, it had no goal to work towards. My rebirth as a Shadow Elf however, granted me access to a secondary power source, shadow essense. That, along with Ki training was apparently adopted as a template, a goal, a target, by the seal's remaining functions. While it cannot produce any more chakra, it instead keyed itself to create shadow essence and ki. Even though that is what it worked towards, Minato, my father and Fourth Hokage, had no idea what these powers were, much less how to create them. And yet, his mastery of seals is apparent in the fact that his greatest creation is self-evolving! It 'understood' it cannot mimic and apply my power sources to the demonic energy it had on hand and yet it tried anyway. What resulted, amazingly enough, is supremely condensed Ki. So much in fact that it can hardly be called Ki at all any longer._

_Curious by this development, and what I could use this new source of power for, I researched into Firavel's notes again. And therein I found this excerpt:_

_I trained long and hard with the so-called 'swordsages'. Their techniques, determination and work ethics were admirable. I began to learn their arts, away from their eyes of course, and after several years, I managed it. I felt what they call 'Sublime Way' and it is not sublime in the slightest. For one such as I, who has trained his Ki to the utmost degree, this was not subtle at all. The Ki grown from this training is viscous, thick and extremely potent, as if it had been condensed somehow. This bears further investigation, but I feel my time drawing near. I fear I will not be able to fully tap into that source of power..._

_He didn't. His time, or at least this book ended before he managed to complete his studies. If my suspicions are correct, then he passed away before he had the time to properly catalogue his findings. However, even that, gives me great joy; I am catching up to him. With this power, the Ki so similar to the Sublime Way, I feel as if I merely need to stretch my arm to reach his level. Of course, it's merely an illusion, but it gives me incentive. I am catching up to him. I _will_ catch up to him and surpass him._

_Fortunately, for me, Firavel at least had the time to list and put down the training regime to cultivate this 'new' Ki. From my understanding of the seal, what I have is a limited, set, reserve. Once it runs out I will have to create my own. But, the seal still has its uses. Not only can it be used as a beacon so that I may easier create my own form of Sublime Ki, seeing as it is easier to recreate something you have before you rather than something you only heard of, but it can also be used as blueprints to 'save' or 'amass' a quantity of said Sublime Ki as a storage. Maybe it will never reach the amount I have in me now, but Firavel's travels have made me realize that even a little bit more can make a huge difference later._

_I must leave now, Mikoto is calling me down. Apparently, Sasuke got his test results today. The boy only has three years to go in the Academy. Three years before being thrust in the harsher aspects of this world._

_Before that time comes, I must..._

Naruto got up from the desk. He closed the Tome, Firavel's final creation, and set it on the pedestal next to his bed. He put on his shirt, covering his chest and the seal he had been studying so intently for the past week. He might be loathe to admit, but he would, that his father's notes on seal-making were the greatest steps towards understanding what he had. That, and his mother's work also helped him tremendously. Thus, while he may not be able to fully understand it, something even the Toad Sage Jiraiya couldn't claim (at least not without these notes), he could at least grasp the general goal of what parts had been left over active.

He sighed deeply as he walked down the stairs. He had several time-sensitive projects, and not all of them were alchemical. To his ire, several of them weren't even dependant on him any more. It was so... frustrating, to have plans made and prepared, yet have to depend on others, others who can't even be allowed to learn of them.

It was frustrating to say the least, but for the sake of his continued power and future freedom from the village, he would have to make do. But, for now, he was content with living his life and waiting for Sasuke to get stronger; he was part of his plans after all even if as a side-effect.

Naruto took a deep breath and reapplied his disguise, the boy would soon be ready for the revelation but not yet, he wasn't fully stable or predictable yet. He made his way down to the foyer in slow, confident steps.

There he saw Mikoto and Sasuke waiting for him, apparently the boy wanted to surprise them both. Once he was near, Sasuke looked up to him, smiling proudly.

"I did it! I got full perfect scores! The academy teachers even said they would push for an early graduation!"

Mikoto hugged her son, feeling justifiably extremely proud. Full perfect scores in the academy were rare, even for the Last Uchiha, it meant he worked a lot and was very talented. Just like his older brother; though she'd do anything to make sure he didn't end up like him.

Naruto on the other hand merely ruffled Sasuke's hair, knowing the boy hated that. "Well done boy. Well done indeed. I didn't get full score when I was in your place. Of course, this just means you have even greater expectations of yourself, right?"

"Of course!" Replied the young boy. "I have to! I'm gonna be the best! After all, not only do I have the Uchiha Legacy to live up to, a rogue clan-member I need to bring to justice, but I also... well, there's another thing I need to do, but I'll keep it a secret!"

Naruto laughed lightly at him; the boy certainly had ambitions. "Well, I hope it does not include hunting down 'Konoha's Warden'. He would have to run away to avoid you pestering him for training!"

The Uchiha pair laughed at his joke, but only Mikoto really got the meaning. Both members sat down though on a couch as Sasuke began telling them of the tests he had to go through. After a few minutes though, Naruto interrupted him.

"So, are you going to take it? The early graduation I mean."

"I... I don't know really. I mean, part of me wants to take it so I can get stronger faster. Not to mention that _he_ took it as well. But, another part of me doesn't want to, I don't know if I'm really ready. What if I mess up? I'd rather be fully prepared rather than miss a single, though boring, lecture that may save my life, or the life of my team-mates. What do you think Naruto-san?"

Naruto looked outside through the windows. The trees moving slowly through the wind were quite calming to the elf. "Well... depends. Are you really sure, beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have learned everything from the Academy? That you have fully matured as much as you possibly could? That, regardless of what's thrown against you, you are properly and adequately prepared to deal with it? Personally, I'd suggest you stay. The Academy is a controlled environment, where you can practice with safety and prepare as much as possible. Also, friends are a very important part of life, something to enjoy. I'd suggest you stay there and pay attention while I get you access to some slightly higher-level material. That way, you both make sure you won't miss out on anything _and_ you get to improve."

Sasuke nodded and, after making an overly-regal bow to his mother and landlord, ran back home, probably to fix the report on the wall if Naruto knew the boy well enough.

"So, what's the real reason you told Sasuke-kun to wait? Apart from the ones you already said I mean." Came Mikoto's concerned voice. She was not annoyed at Naruto's choice, but if he had a plan that included her son, she wanted in on it.

"Well, he is your son, first and foremost. Even if I could get him on a team with me to look after him, it would be best that we wait a bit more. I need to get much stronger if I can reliably protect both of you. Don't forget Danzou either, or Orochimaru. Both are quite obsessed with the power of the Sharingan. And with Itachi gone or becoming as strong as he is, their only means of acquiring it could be Sasuke. I want him safeguarded as much as possible. Finally, it's Sasuke himself. While he has mostly recovered, I don't think he's ready for that kind of responcibility. Soon, yes, but not now. Until he's completely ready, I won't let him out. Now, I'd like you to help me with a new project of mine..."

And Naruto explained about the gist of his findings on the dubbed 'Sublime Ki'. It sounded very close to chakra, though it had completely different applications.

"So how are you going to train in this 'sublime power' ability, Naruto-kun? It sounds very hard to manifest and control." Asked Mikoto.

Naruto sighed. "I... have an idea. But it's a bit dangerous. The slowest way would be to start training in their way but that would take too long. No, the fastest way would be... sensory deprivation training."

"Sensory deprivation? How would that help?" Was the quite curious reply.

"Sensory deprivation is to completely cut one's self from any and all senses. As you know, that is very, very dangerous and taxing to the mind. But... in that way I can invoke the perfect meditation and 'realize' my form of sublime ki. Learning how to produce more via training would be an easy thing to do after. It's the deprivation phase itself that brings me such hesitance. It could easily shatter one's mind if unprepared."

"So... if... if it's so dangerous, can't you find another way? Is it the only way?" She didn't vocalize her innermost thoughts however; 'I don't want to loose you'.

"Unfortunately no... I have to do this while my body is still in 'puberty' so to speak. Otherwise, it will never be quite comfortable with this power. Preparations will take a day or two, I need to modify the seals. But after that, I will isolate myself for a period of a week. In fact, I will require help from you. While the seal will preserve me, I will be unable to exit the room until someone releases me, and it is going to be you."

"B-b-but I!" Said Mikoto, thinking of how great a responcibility it was; he would literally be placing his very existence at her hands. "That kind of responcibility!"

Naruto let out a soft laugh. "I trust you Mikoto. Though, getting your son to accept this is going to be... hard to manage. But I trust you can do it."

The serious talk degenerated into small jokes and flirting, though not once did Mikoto forget the weight of her new responcibility.

Two days later, all preparations had been completed. The simulation room, one of Minato's masterworks, had been prepared. Naruto used the controls to eliminate the senses of 'scent', 'sound', 'touch', 'sight', 'taste' and 'chakra'. The result was an impenetrable, uncompromizing darkness that was only broken due to the still-open door. A door Mikoto was standing, her form bringing a tone of finality to the action.

"So... Naruto-kun, are you sure you want to do this?" She asked.

A nod was his reply, confident and sure. "Yes. I have to. Besides, I trust you to get me out of here when the time's up. I should be fine."

The woman nodded sadly and closed the door.

Darkness.

Complete...

Chilling...

Utter darkness.

No sound. No light. Nothing.

Naruto sat down, or at least he thought he did, he had no sense of touch after all.

'Well, I should get down to meditating...' He thought.

_An undetermined amount of time later:_

Naruto blinked as he stretched. It was... boring. His meditation couldn't do much but he couldn't figure out _why_. It should have worked. The small periods of sensory deprivation he had undergone, though they were limited in time and only affected one or two of them, had been quite effective training tools. But the biggest problem was his lack of awareness. How long had it been? How long was he imprisoned there? He couldn't even hear his own hearbeats. He could have died for all he knew.

_Later:_

_'How... how much longer?' _ he asked himself.

_'Huh? Who was that! My... my thoughts? What devouring darkness... I can almost feel it eat away at my sanity!'_

Naruto had lost count of the times he had meditated and the time he had done so. He couldn't count. He couldn't determine. He couldn't feel anything.

_'Is this... death?'_

_'Is this how death feels like? This... this void? This nothingness?'_

_'No... this... this is oblivion...'_

_'Forgotten... Does Mikoto even remember to release me? What... what if she...'_

_'No! I won't think of that! I must... I must believe she will remember...'_

_'My existence... Do I even exist? I think, therefore I am... But an unseen tree does not exist! Do I exist? Is this oblivion?'_

_'Mikoto! Help! Open the door!'_

It was barely past the second day when Naruto screamed for help...

During the ordeal Mikoto wasn't having a much easier time and neither was Anko for that matter. The crazed tokubetsu jounin spent a lot of time around Mikoto's bakery. Anko would say she did so because it held the best sweets she could find anywhere in Konoha, which it objectively did since everything was house-made. But the truth was that both women had found a friend in the other. Knowing Naruto's secret and liking him as more than just a friend, though they didn't know what extent exactly, had led them to developing a sort of 'frenemy' relationship. Even a budding respect for each other.

Anko would accept that when it came to refinement and grace, few women could compete with the Uchiha matriarch. In the same hearbeat, Mikoto would acknowledge Anko's determination and courage to do whatever she feels like doing.

Currently, the pair were gossiping lightly, trying to pass the time. Being just before midday, there were few customers for Mikoto to attend to and Anko hadn't had any decent job in days. So they gossiped trying to pass the time until they could see/molest (well for Anko at least) the not-so-blonde Namikaze.

"So where's Naru-kun? I miss him _soooo_ much!" Said Anko, munching on a stick of dango.

"He's got a training mission to do Anko... I've told you a dozen times already!" Was the reply from a slightly agitated Mikoto. What if the training had gone wrong? What if the seals had a problem? What if the seal didn't provide for food? What if he he got sick? What if-

Thankfully, Anko's next question prevented any further derailing of the distrought woman's thoughts. "Yeah, but you're not telling me anything! I mean, for all I know, he could be out training under a waterfall, almost naked, water flowing down his chiseled abs and..."

"ANKO! I don't want to hear it!" Shouted Mikoto, trying to stop her drooling friend from going on. After all, she couldn't very well sell bread and pastries with drops of blood now could she? She had to admit after all; Naruto's physique was... heavenly. And with Anko's perverted fantasies laying siege in the woman's mind, it wasn't exactly helping her waning control.

"But! But! I want to be there with him! See him train and get sweaty! And then remove his shirt! And then move on to all kinds of naughty teacher-student things!"

Mikoto's first reaction was to glare at the jounin; there was no way she was going to let Anko join Naruto for such training! Then she sobbered quickly. "No... you don't... Not this case..."

"Huh? What are you talking about? How horrible could it be?"

"Anko... we both know how diligent Naruto is with his training... this case even had him hesitating... And... and... and I can't do anything to help him!"

Anko might have been slightly deranged, but she still had a psychologist's licence. She could easily read the emotions of the distrought woman. Heck, if they weren't rivals, she would have considered it cute. Well, if she ever considered anything cute that is, apart from her pet cobra that is. Damn thing was soooo cute... It almost sent the psychotic woman giggling just thinking about it. Shaking her head mentally to get out of 'happy-giggly land', Anko knew she had to get Mikoto's mind away from that predicament.

"So, girlfriend" she began, grinning at Mikoto's glare over the 'girlfriend' comment. "How's about we hit the hot springs? I'm gonna call Kurenai-chan and Hanna-chan and it's gonna be a girl's night out!" She finished with her fist raised in the air.

"I... I don't know... I mean..." Stuttered Mikoto, unprepared for the sudden burst of energy from her friend.

"Awww Miko-chan..." Whined Anko "Don't be such a spoilsport! Wait, don't tell me? Are you perhaps embarassed? Is that it? Don't worry, we may not be married but we won't look down on an older woman's reduced charms!" She mocked, knowing that Mikoto would take the bait.

"What? I'll have you know that there is nothing I'm ashamed of! This body of mine is as youthfull as it was years ago and has more feminine charms than you could believe! Mystique is a woman's power after all, unlike your show-offy ways!"

The indignant comment managed to work its magic and take Mikoto's mind away from her thoughts about Naruto. It also led to a night at the onsen that would end up being any pervert's dream. Well, except for the perverts who made the mistake of trying to spy on them; they received only raw pain and anguish from the Kunoichi women. Also, Anko would never admit it, but the Uchiha had kept her body in an amazing shape, despite her age and giving birth twice. Heck, if the rumours were true, the woman actually had fan_girls_ too!

Four days later, Mikoto was readying her self to open the door to Naruto's self-imposed exile. She was worried. What would happen to the blonde? How would he end up? Was he alright?

Taking a deep breath to calm and center herself she took the key that was made to disengage the simulation room from the rest of the world and put it in the lock. Almost instantly, she could feel the expulsed chakra radiating from the door and see the endless runes and seal diagrams blaze into sight before fading away slowly. With trembling arms she opend the door.

In one corner of the room, Naruto was lieing with his back to the corner, his head down, covering his face. The enchantment that concealed his elven heritage long since gone, he had reverted to his true form, his long hair cascading on his shoulders. His clothes, made out of tough yet comfortable material for training purposes, were torn in places and she could see it was human nails that had caused the damage, to both cloth and skin. She saw drops of blood spattered on the walls, floor and even the ceiling. She could even see torn skin on the little bit of the skin on his cheeks.

'My god... What... what must he have gone through to... to do this to himself? How hard must it have been for Naruto-kun to...' Were her thoughts. After all, Naruto was the epitome of control. For something to make him act like that... What unthinkable torture...

"N-Naruto-kun?" She asked hesitantly, unknowingly afraid he would be taken from her like so many others.

Hearing the voice, the elfling raised his head and Mikoto stiffled a gasp. His face was marked by torn flesh and blood. but... but his eyes! His eyes! They... they were inhuman! At the same time, they possessed a beast's instinct, a broken man's insanity and the world-piercing focus of an immortal. His eyes seemed to grow and encompass her vision, dominate her mind and the woman shook.

"Mi-ko-to... Is... is that you Mikoto?" Hesitant voice, broken and yet flowing with so much emotion she had never heard before.

She couldn't hold herself back any longer, she ran to the elf and kneeled next to him trying to ease him up, checking his now-closed wounds. "Naruto-kun! What happened here?"

The laugh that came reminded her of both the Naruto she had come to know and the boy he once was. "Nothing to worry about. I just went insane for a bit. Sorry Mikoto, I won't do something that stupid ever again, I promise."

That brought her tears which she tried to blink away. "It's alright Naruto-kun. It's alright. I'm here now, so you can relax. I'll take care of you."

"I.. I know. Sorry Mikoto, but I can't move correctly. I'll need some help getting to my room. I am completely exhausted."

The woman nodded and took him with her, holding him to the side. She was worried about how light he felt, how weak his motions were, the way he seemed to stumble around and have no sense of balance.

"I'm going to need a couple of days to recover Mikoto... I'm sorry, but until then, can I ask you to take care of me?"

The woman looked at him critically. "Don't say such stupid things Naruto-kun. I would love to take care of you for as long as needed."

The elf laughed as he and the woman supporting him made their way to his room.

The two days passed quickly, if not exactly quietly. Sasuke had almost rushed in Naruto's room once he heard he was back and needed time to recover; it was only his mother's efforts as well as his knowledge of what Naruto would do to him if he disobeyed such an order that kept the boy from sneaking in. Then there was the matter of Anko; the psychotic woman somehow managed to sneak in through a window and gave Naruto a 'good morning' that he would probably never forget. After all, how many could claim to have woken up with a beauty as great as Mitarashi Anko making out with them? Oh yes, Naruto was indeed lucky it was practically impossible for anyone else to spy on his house, he would probably get hunted down by jealous fans of Anko. Let's not forget the Sandaime either, he was quite curious on whether Naruto managed to complete his objective. It led to quite a bit of discussion on what that power was and how one could use it. Of course, the Namikaze heir had the aged Kage declare it hijutsu of his new clans, though he wasn't sure as to what name he'd end up keeping. A name like Uzumaki-Namikaze-Duali was just too darn long, especially if those 'crazed' women got their wishes and he had to add Mitarashi or Uchiha to the railroad as well. Finally, one Yamanaka Inoichi almost mind-raped Naruto trying to find out as much as he could on the matter of sensory deprivation. Not only was it an extremely rare occurence, highly undocumented, but he was also quite curious as to how Naruto had managed to remain relatively sane through it all. It took Mikoto and Anko threatening him to stop, even after practically disobeying the Hokage.

But in the end, there was success, Naruto had managed to create his 'sublime ki' and manifest it. From then on, he spent a lot of time practicing and expanding on his limits of what he could and couldn't do. Sparring with jounin and ANBU became a daily occurence to the blonde when he wasn't training in other arts or performing a mission. Thankfully, the old man was willing to cover for him and keep him safe from the more unscrupulous members of Konoha would have loved little more than placing him under their thumb. Even though they didn't act against the boy any more, at least in a direct way, they now wanted him under their thumb and control, the rather large assets of the Uzumaki and Namikaze holdings be seized by them.

Naruto sighed deeply as he watched Konoha begin a new day. It had been two years from the event and his training was going according to plan. He was getting stronger and stronger every day and he knew it. Also, his other plans were according to plan.

Knowing he would some day leave Konoha while still being a capable shinobi, he had already began preparations for that time. He had started up a spying network composed of satisfied employers and other people he had met in his travels. Large funds of his clans' money had been invested in various corporations to provide for funding. Land has been bought and secured, hidouts were being built and equipped. Getting out of Konoha's hounds would be the hardest, but he'd manage somehow.

And now he was getting ready for yet another step up in his position in life. Due to him being unable to use chakra, not to mention there weren't many in Konoha who would accept his change of race, going through the whole Chuunin Exams gig was out of the question. So, the only way for him to increase his ranking was through grueling missions that noone else would have a chance to perform, and him keeping a perfect record. A way to more or less shout out the world that he was chuunin rank beyond all forms of doubt. And this day was no different. He'd have another mission today, an escort/bodyguard mission. He had heard a few things from the Hokage, but it was only now that he would be told the full story.

With a deep breath, Naruto leapt from roof to roof, making his way to the Hokage tower, his agility and sureness of footing leaving many shinobi with their jaws hanging; he didn't need to touch a step with more than the edge of his boot to still manage to leap perfectly through the air, even stepping on thin tree brances and yet not disturbing them at all. It certainly pushed a certain green-dressed jounin to work/train/obsess even more.

Finally, Naruto made his way to the Hokage's office, using the window to enter and landing on it in a perfect crouch with his knees to the side and maintaining a perfect balance. The poor gennin that was getting his file evaluated at that moment almost leapt out of the seat; it had been as silent as a ghost. The Hokage of course was aware enough to not be surprised but he did let out his trademarked 'nice old man' chuckle.

"Don't worry Aono-kun. Naruto-kun here is just waiting for a mission. Your file checks out correctly, you are free to go and good luck."

Said boy bowed rather nervously and walked out before he had the time to realize that the Hokage had meant the legendary Namikaze Naruto. His thoughts on the way back home were around how cool he had seemed, landing there so perfectly.

As soon as the gennin left, the old man activated a number of seals and closed the window, isolating it from the world outside.

"Naruto, it's time for your final mission as a gennin. Currently, you hold more than fifty C-rank missions and even five B-ranks. After this one, if completed, I will be able to grant you the rank of Chuunin as well as official status as Clan Leader. Now, this mission can be very easy, or it can go straight to hell. We don't even know that much, but it's pre-emptive striking. Your target and ward for this mission, is the upcoming acrtress Fujikaze Yukie. Due to extrenuating circumstances, she's being targeted by assassins from a coup. You are to protect her, foil the assassins and prevent information from reaching their master. Well, the last one is a secondary objective, since we'd have to make her disappear again if that happened. You are to guard her while in the Land of Fire, we have arranged for other protectors outside. In case it pertains to the mission, information about your charge will be directed towards Yuki no Kuni. Now, get going and good luck, Yukie will be entering your care in three days and you will need that time to travel to the edge of the country."

Naruto bowed his head to his leader and turned around to leave. He walked down the stairs, scroll with further details and descriptions in hand. He scowled a bit. He was an assassin type, guarding wasn't really his forte. Though, if there was anyone that would be able to find an assassin, it would have to be another assassin and few in Konoha were as good as him. The idiots depended on their jutsu and chakra too much, they couldn't even run on walls without it.

Walking through Konoha, Naruto made his way to Mikoto's bakery. He wanted to say goodbye before he left. He opened the door and breathed in the scents of freshly baked goods. It was due to sheer willpower that he didn't begin drooling. It smelled like a little piece of heaven.

"Hello Mikoto. How are you today?"

"Ah! Naruto-kun! I'm fine and you? Here, have some honeybread, just baked it! Oh, and some milk, it goes so well with fresh milk!"

The elf nodded at the sage-like tone the woman had adopted. It was a soft, almost cake-like density bread, with a generous amount of honey and even a bit of cinammon mixed in. It had a unique, though very pleasant taste, and was quite good for shinobi since it gave them a lot of energy.

"Arigato Mikoto. Unfortunately, I won't get to taste your cooking any time soon. I have to leave for a mission and it can very well take up a week. Sarutobi told me just now and I need to leave immidiately. Tell Sasuke I'll make it up to him somehow alright? The brat's going to pester me for not teaching him anything for a week after!"

Both of them laughed, knowing that Sasuke actually _could_ and _would_ do it, probably while pouting too, though he'd deny said act altogether.

"Is it going to be dangerous Naruto-kun?" She asked, the same question she always asked him whenever he would do anything above D-rank.

"I don't think so. I'm supposed to watch over an actress and make sure noone gets to her. There's a chance assassins might come and I'll have to remove them before they get to her or send message to their HQ. Other than that, I'll probably be bored to hell watching over a pampered princess of an upcoming actress. Nothing to worry about I'm sure. Probably won't even draw my weapons."

"Still... please, be careful Naruto-kun..."

"Worry not Mikoto, Luna watches over me and my blades are sharp. I will be back soon. But I'll be taking Ariali with me. She will help me cover much ground." He said, referring to the sole animal of his housekeep. It was a beautifull white mare, with a silvery mane and bright golden eyes. It was trained for combat as well as speed, a magnificent animal as strong and smart as any horse could get. She truly deserved her name; Silver Shadow...

Going back home, Naruto got the saddle and the packs and loaded them on his trusty mount. She neighed and struck the ground with her hooves once, showing him her impatience; she wanted to run. Run like the wind, run like the shadow of a cloud, run faster than the sun would bring dawn. Naruto smiled serenely at the proud animal. He could sympathize with her, running free, running wild, running wherever your fancy may strike you was indeed something he longed for. And, if things went the way he planned them...

The elf nimbly leapt onto his horse, though he often thought of her as his companion rather than a mere beast of burden, and the pair broke in a slow gait. Once out of the gates of the house, he increased his speed but made sure to keep it low; civilians were more effective roadblocks than any shinobi could otherwise call up. Under him, Ariali shook with barely restrained nerves, she wanted it over with, away from those annoying people that blocked her run and into the forest, where she could try to outrun the wind once more.

Children of many ages gawked at the proud and beautiful animal. Some even had the courage to touch her, and it was only thanks to their childish nature that Ariali didn't lash back but instead gently nudged them with her head. Naruto laughed to himself a bit before promising to let some of them play with Ariali a bit when he got back. Some of the children there were indeed pure, kind souls, he would not hold them responcible for what their misguided parents did.

It took several minutes for Naruto and the kids accompanying him to reach the village entrance and only a few more for him to gain leave. The shadow elf breathed in deep as he assured his place on the saddle, he knew what was coming next. As soon as he received the papers and clearence to leave, the proud horse let out a loud call, coiled her muscles and burst forth in full gallop, as if trying to race an enemy only she could see. Naruto leaned forward, hugging her neck as he laughed in the feeling of freedom. Behind him, onlookers were gawking at the speed, even a jounin would not keep up for more than a few seconds.

To Naruto, it wasn't him moving any more. Ariali's speed was so great, her grace so perfect, her movements so fluid, it seemed as if the entire world moved instead of him. He felt almost as an outside watched as the world blurred its form and blazed past him, the wind howling at his heels.

"You are, without a doubt, one of my closest friends Ariali! Now ride! Ride like the wind! Ride faster than the wind! Ride as if you were free!"

Ariali snorted at him, as if she understood his words, and sped up even more. Passing shinobi and civilians would only see a blur pass them, wind ruffling them, a joyous laugh in the air.

**Three Days Later:**

Fujikaze Yukie wasn't a happy camper. As if acting troubles wasn't enough, as if having to dodge fans more hours per day than actually do her job wasn't enough, as if having Sandayu try to pester her into going to Yuki no Kuni wasn't enough, now her bodyguard was missing. Granted, she believed he wasn't needed. But he had been hired, and he should be a professional damnit!

She stormed inside her room, which was actually bigger than the houses of some of the people who watched her plays, and tossed the flowers she held on a desk while she fell back onto the soft bed.

"Damn fans... each day they get bolder... what's next? Stalkers coming into my room for a hair or something?"

She turned to the side, a small refridgerator with juice inside was within reachable distance. She got a bottle out and gulped greedily of the liquid, enjoying the slight 'zing' of freshly made orange juice. Always helped her wake up.

"And then there's Sandayu... What's with his obsession with that pathetic place? He trying to make it an attraction or kill me? Not only do I have to put up with his stupid ideas, now he's pressing for another movie... If he wasn't such a good manager, I swear..."

In a nearby shadow, Naruto watched unseen. He was amused as much as irritated by the 'princess'. Still, he supposed he could understand her annoyance about stalkers and 'sympathizing controllers'. He had to endure his own share of these fools until they got the point and left him alone. He quickly dismissed his thoughts as Koyuki got up and approached him on the way to the balcony. Once again he thanked his slight build that allowed him to creep behind things such as sofas or under beds easily.

Koyuki made her way on the outside and looked at the bright, half moon. "Why... why did you have to go and die? You liar... Why..." She questioned aloud and Naruto could feel the pangs of sadness from her. He sympathized even more with her when he noticed that, whatever her grief was, regardless of how much her expression showed great pain, she could not shed a single tear...

The night went by calmly, with Naruto spending a few hours in quiet meditation, managing it without revealing himself. Koyuki would never know, but the furthest she had been from her bodyguard was little over thirty feet.

The next day, Naruto was slightly troubled. Some people had returned for a repeat performance. While not completely unheard of, especially considering how loved the girl was by her fans, Naruto was an assassin, and if there was one thing he knew how to do was recognize the intent to kill. Sure, there was the possibility of a disgruntled or rebuked stalker wanting revenge, but the elf was on a mission and therefore considered _everyone_ an enemy. Everyone but his charge was an enemy until he had stabbed them with his weapons and they breathed no more. He would not allow _anyone_ to sully his so-far perfect record. Not even Koyuki herself. It was his way, the way of a shadow elf.

There he was again, that annoying stalker... with just a hint of hostility. Then there was that guy to the left, his eyes lingered a bit too much around Koyuki for it to be a coincidence. Do not dismiss the girl across the hall; she fingered something in her obi too much for it to be a coincidence.

When Koyuki surrounded herself with the more _obvious_ type of bodyguards, Naruto allowed himself a respite from watching over her. To tail after his suspects that is. And he struck gold. One of them, a balding man in his forties. Said man took out a paper writing the words _'Kazehana Koyuki' _and tied it to the leg of a bird only seconds before Naruto could get to him. The spy didn't get the chance to enjoy his reward, he vanished in the shadows without making a sound. He wasn't found until several days later, dead in a sidewalk, he apparentlt had drunk himself to death.

But the man hadn't come alone, he had been joined by a woman, and the woman had managed to escape by separating from her companion just after the entrance. Naruto almost roared in anger, he had failed the secondary objective, he had a tarnish on his record! Truly, woe betide the fool who did it!

At that time, the leader of a small snow-covered country shivered, feeling as if someone was marching around his grave.

The assassins came quickly, their headquarters must have been pretty darn close. It happened while Koyuki was getting out from her bath, only to come face-to-face with a bunch of armed people coming in from the window. There should have been another group entering from the door, but for _some_ reason they had failed to show. Said reason being an infuriated shadow elf.

Her scream alerted said assassin and he cursed before vanishing in a wisp of shadow, leaving behind him three bound and gagged men pleading for their lives; they could feel the poison burn inside their veins. Koyuki had backstepped when she saw the intruders, which caused her to slip on the wet floor and fall down as her scream died on her lips.

_'Is this how I die? Killed by a bunch of ninja? Not even having lived at all? Before getting to even have my name known?'_ Were her thoughts as she closed her eyes. What happened next caused her to open them and stare.

Naruto warped into the room while on the air. Before he had landed, his left hand had pulled his whip-dagger from his belt and his right had already retrieved his hand crossbow and aimed at his enemy. The first target, the one closest to the window felt a crossbow bolt lodge itself into his lung before he even realized there was a new presence in the room.

Naruto let the crossbow fall, he wouldn't waste time reloading it. Instead, he pulled out one of his shuriken, a special type shaped like a spike. His left hand lashed out with the whip and wrapped itself around the leg of the closest enemy before pulling him down. The man raised his hands to block, but the shuriken quickly lodged itself into his stomach and he could feel a burning sensation expand, a sure sign of poison.

Another charged, wielding his kodachi with some skill, but the man wasn't anywhere near Naruto's skill. The blonde made a dodge to the left and used his whip-dagger to cut the man just below the neck. Before he had time to go down, a long, slender and pointed knife was in the elf's hand, already in a ready position to take on the next enemy, confident in the coma-inducing properties of the poison.

The next used his comrade's falling bodies as cover to charge at the defender of his mark, but the damnable whip quickly wrapped itself around his blade and dragged him forward before he let go, but not fast enough to dodge the knife's biting edge as it carved a red path onto the flesh of his chest, bleeding profusely. His world turned black when Naruto spun as he tripped the man and smashed the handle of his whip on his temple.

The last man figured it would be smarter to get the freakin' hell out of there. However, the knife in Naruto's hand served as more than a mellee weapon; it was a very good thrown weapon too. It was quickly proven as it lodged itself between the fleeing man's shoulderblades, scraping his heart.

A fluid flourish later and Naruto's whip was wrapped securely around his waist as he turned to the shivering form of his ward. Apparently, he had dropped his facade to intimidate the three assassins he had captured before into confessing and with all that went on, he hadn't had the time to reapply it.

"W-w-who are you? Are you going to kill me? Are you here to kill me too?" Screamed the frightened woman.

Naruto laughed an easy, lilting laugh, the question actually amusing him. "Oh, heavens no! Why would I do that? Your original bodyguard, Namikaze Naruto-kun, had been by your side for the past day and a half, always within thirty feet of you, regardless of you seeing him or not. But there were three other assassins, which he took care of without a sound. However, one of them managed to hit him with a poisoned knife. He will be fine, but he will be out of it for a few minutes as he tries to recover it, so he asked me, an... old friend of his if you will, to help out. Now, please, allow me to call for help." He explained calmly before going to the door, opening it slightly and calling for security. By the time he looked back, he had reapplied his altered form. Then he kneeled down next to the still freaked girl and tried to calm her down. In the end, he left her with a pleading question. "Please, do not speak to others of me. You understand how bad it would be, people would see me as little more than an animal, little more than a subject to be exploited. Keep my secret for me and I will ask nothing for taking these cowards down."

The girl nodded, if a bit stiffly. She was still scared, but if the man, person, whatever he was, had wanted her dead, he could have done it any time. Besides, she owed him. If it had been her original bodyguard, she would have resisted a bit, maybe even kept a proof as possible blackmail if things went south, but he had saved her life out of the goodness of his own heart. She owed him at least as much.

"Yukie-dono, there is the possibility of one or more assassins having escaped, more than likely by not coming here. However, they could be in possession of knowledge of you and whatever secret it is you carry. I will now take my leave and hunt them down to ensure the safety of your identity. This type of assassin isn't a registered ninja, they are lawless freelancers, taking hits from anyone. If it would please you, you may spend the night with a friend of both mine and your original guardian, a horse, a very intelligent horse you can use to run away if another threatens you while we are away. She is a very smart and trained mare, she will warn you of danger better than any dog, protect you better than any guard and carry you swifter than any carriadge. Also, the act of grooming her can calm even the most tense of nerves."

"I-I will... think about it... and... whoever you are... thank you... for... for saving me..."

"Thanks are not necessary, but appreciated, even if I failed in my original mission. If only me and Naruto-kun had been more observant, these men wouldn't have even heard of your existence, and for the ordeal our failure caused you,we both apologize..." The apology was genuine and Naruto bowed to her at the waist, that was as much submission the proud elf would show to anyone, the woman would just never know he hadn't bowed that far to anyone else before her.

The servants and guards came in at that time and they were struck silent at the massacre. They quickly escorted the actress out, especially when the assassin told them he had to 'finish things', in other words give them a mercy killing.

Several hours later, in a shadowed and indescript wooden house, a woman stared at the door anxiously. Her business associates were late, something could have gone wrong... but what? Neither had sensed another person guarding the actress. Sure Keito was late, but the jerk had probably gotten himself drunk halfway to death already. Well, he was allowed to splurge once in a while. Especially with bounties such as this coming in. The woman didn't know, and frankly didn't care, what the importance of Koyuki's death and the retrieval of her pendant was, but it was monumental! She had even refrained from notifying Dotou, knowing she could barter for a few more thousands up the original bounty. A man with the ability to issue such a bounty to every mercenery guild must have had full coffers.

She got up and walked to a window, looking outside, waiting for her comrades to return. A glint in the moonlight drew her attention and she focused her eyes on it. There it was again! A glint, metal? It vanished... more like faded in the background. The woman shook herself out of her paranoia, she always saw enemies during and after a job, retaliations or enemy mercs coming for their catch, she wanted to be ready. Moving away from her window was her last conscious action. The moment she turned her back to it, the holder of the metal object that glinted in the moonlight released the tension in his muscles. The great longbow in his arms called out into the night. The long, straight arrow in his hands was there no more, propelled through the air at immense speeds and strengths. The sound of broken glass, drowned out in the cries of an exited town enjoying the arrival and stay of an up-and-coming actress. A fountain of red liquid, barely visible to the single lit candle of the house. Another death on a young assassin's hands.

Naruto slunk inside the house with stealth that would leave many an animal hunter jealous. He found several documents, bounty posters and scrapbooks, some even listing bank accounts and contact information. All was plundered before he made arrangements for the erasing of his presence. The flaming building was discovered quickly enough that the fire didn't spread to others, but too late to do anything about the _poor, old woman_ that lived there. She would be sorely missed. What a tragedy it had been; she dead in a fire and her husband drunk to death...

In the morning, Yukie was awakened from her sleep by a playful mare's nudging. She had only laid down to rest for a minute, but dawn had already broken. Ariali nudged her head a bit and used her lips to ruffle her hair, causing her to giggle. A shadow fell near her and she saw her guardian, her saviour, her protector watching over her.

"Slept well? Worry not, there will be no more attacks by this branch. In fact, their contact network has been unearthed and there will be a lot of steps to erasing it, and with it the bounty on you. Until that time, please, check in regularly with Konohagakure and the Hokage and maintain a trained bodyguard with you at all times. Until the assassins guilds have been rooted out, please make sure you are safe. One day, you may even reclaim your real name and position. If that is your wish of course, we will support you either way."

Koyuki would have her first completely restful night in over a week that night. She knew she had a protector watching her then. A knight garbed in shadows, wielding silver weapons as easily as she wielded words and emotions. She, for just a bit longer, had a person devoted completely to her. She never saw him again, but, when she looked at some shadows, she could see a small flicker.

Naruto also enjoyed her plays more. Somehow, he felt more emotion stem from the woman, more confidence, more... whatever it was that made people _want_ to see and look up to her. Even Ariali took a liking to her, the silver mare letting her groom her and feed her, even play with her a bit. When the time to leave came, he was sure the horse was sad to leave her friend, a young actress with a past as tragic as any film she would take place in.

"Well, Ariali, my dear, dear companion, we made another friend, didn't we? This didn't turn out a simple mission at all. Now, we have four days to reach Konoha, but it only takes two to do it. However, there are a few guilds allied with the assassins that went after our ward. What do you think my friend? Shall we show them the error of their ways?"

The horse neighed and rose in her hind legs, lashing out with her front. Naruto laughed, he agreed with her.

The next few days, guard would report a shadow garbed figure riding silver, all of it a blur, around a few villages. In all these villages, men and women, perfectly respectable if a bit secluded couples would be found dead. None were murdered, all were killed in accidents or simply their hearts stopped. But, throughout the land, mercenaries involved enough in the trade knew the truth; someone was making a point, and they would be wise not to cross him again.

When Naruto returned to Konoha, in time as always, he stabled his trusted companion horse and went straight to the Hokage. The aged man was quick to assign Naruto the rank of Chuunin, an act that led to a major celebration of all of Naruto's friends in the aforementioned's house, a lavish feast that lasted well into the morning and yet all of them felt as rested as through a full night's sleep after.

A day later, a knock on the door aroused Naruto from his training. Putting on a clean shirt to cover himself properly, he opened the door slowly.

"Hello Danzou... I've been expecting you..."

* * *

**A/N: Took me a lot of time, this one. I am so sorry. I hope you liked it though and I didn't go overboard with Naruto's skills.**

**In case someone asks, his knife is like the blades Legolas wields in Lord of the Rings, really nice little things. His bow is a composite longbow (mighty +2) with a few basic enchantments that were inconsequential at the moment. For poison, he relies on alchemically preserved and enhanced snake venom, easier to make and still a very lethal concoction. As you have probably figured out, his feats include Quick Draw and Two-Weapon Fighting, which really suit him.**

**Ariali the horse is much like Kiba's Akamaru, a 'ninja' animal with increased speed, endurance and intelligence. She will show up a bit more later, but she won't have a pivotal role.**

**Also, I have, in my spare time, written several one-one shots, most of which are DnD-Naruto crossovers using characters of my DnD games. The question is... should I publish them? Any witty name to call the 'fic' as?**

**Finally, I would like a suggestion on Naruto's official surname. Uzumaki-Namikaze-Uchiha-Mitarashi just doesn't really sound nice. Any suggestions? Maybe a pair or three of words I can translate to elven or quenya (one of Tolkien's languages for elves)?**


	7. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7: Shadows Come Alive_

Naruto stood at the door, impassively looking at the even more impassively looking Shimura Danzou. He once again ran the discussion to come through his mind. He knew enough of the man to be wary around. Danzou was called a war hawk by many, but the truth was he was also a patriot, a zealous patriot who would do anything for his village. Literally _anything_, even sacrifice thousands of others, he would do it in a heartbeat. That is not to say he looked forward to it; willing sacrifice of allies was unnencessarily wasting resources, and that's what the council member saw everyone as. Resources to be exploited and expended in the service of Konoha.

"Greetings Namikaze-san... may I come in?" Came the rough voice from the man.

"Of course, follow me. Please forgive my attire, but I was training."

"It is of no concequence. Instead it is... admirable that one trains as hard as you do Namikaze-san, considering you have only recently returned from your first mission as a Konoha chunin..."

"Thank you for your compliments, but it wasn't hard, not even a wound. Please, have a seat while I bring us some tea to enjoy."

The aged man limped to the couch and sat down perfectly, an exemplar of lorldly perfection. Naruto, the ever-gracious host brought him tea and served him. Danzou noticed it was his favourite type of tea.

"I see you know my preferences Namikaze-san..."

"But of course. It is good to know things, even something as... inconcequential as one's preference of tea or arrangement of seats could make or break a possible agreement, if not relationship. So, why would the retired leader of an entire branch of ANBU, the ever infamous yet respected ROOT, visit my lowly home?"

The threat was not subtle, but well concealed. Naruto knew of Danzou's actions and he wanted him to know it. He wanted Danzou to stop beating around the bush and come clean. So that, when that happened, Naruto could speak clearly to the man.

"I see you know of my past deeds." Spoke the councilman, but noticed how Naruto's eyes glared at him. He decided to cut to the chase. "Impressive, you actually know the truth, did my old rival, Sarutobi, tell you?"

Naruto sighed as he sipped a bit of tea. "Not much, no. Merely allowed me to look over some ANBU files and told me there were some things I could look into on my own. I researched on you, and I was quite impressed. To manage all that is... quite impressive. You have my respect for that."

"In that case... may I extend an invitation? That of mutual benefit and cooperation."

"I... have to refuse. I respect you, but that does not mean I like you. You are a patriot, Danzou-san, a zealous patriot with only the good of his village at heart, and I can respect that, I _do_ respect that. Also, you are an intelligent, cunning man and, once again, that is something I respect. However, I do not agree with your methods of doing what you do, regardless of how necessary they are. No, while I hold no enmity towards you, neither do I particularly wish to serve you. Though, should the need arise, I would cooperate with you, what you seek and what I seek are, I'm afraid, quite different..."

Danzou hummed as he contemplated his answer. The boy was slippery and smart, he knew exactly what to say to him to separate himself from the war-hawk, all the while praising his ability. "Is it sedition on your part Namikaze-san? I see only Konoha's welfare after all... Do you not seek the same?"

"With _my _life, Councilor-san, it is of great wonder I have no thoughts of Konoha's destruction in mind. After all, even though you do not believe in emotions, you understand how they work, correct? For a young person to suffer such ostracism and hate, it is a wonder my mind was sane by the time the seal purged the Kyubi..."

Danzou could only nod, the boy was right. While Danzou would have preferred the boy to be entered into his ROOT branch, there was a reason he hadn't pushed for it or outright kidnapped him. His group selected either individuals with talent but not too much power or those who had already proved their mental stability. As a newborn, Naruto possessed a great deal of power and ROOT was not known for teaching morals, in other words, his mental stability would have been questionable at best and non-existent at worse. And with someone with Kyubi's power inside... No, that would not have been acceptable, too risky. To take him in later though, Danzou had thought about it, but the foolish citizens of Konoha couldn't look further than their own hands, blinded by whatever they thought was 'honorable' and 'just'. They ostracized the boy, persecuted and hated him, and in turn, the boy would have been too unstable to enter his forces. Even if he had stripped the boy of emotions, or rather while doing it, the child's mental structure would collapse and become madness. Ambitious Danzou was, an idiot he was not.

"I see... so, what is your aim?"

"A very simple, dear thing to all, yet truly attained by few. What I desire Danzou-san... is freedom. I want to be free of the constraints of a hateful or hypocritical place. I want to be free of having to do as others say. I want to ride my horse like the wind, make my own way in the world. Alas, I cannot do that. Not without several influential people backing me. One of them... being you Danzou-san..."

"Me?" He said surprised. "Why would I help someone cut ties with Konoha?" It was a question he really wanted an answer for.

"Because Danzou-san, cutting ties means not completely abandoning. If I can be free, I can also watch out for Konoha. I could be the missing link, carrying out assassinations when even you couldn't involve yourself. That does not mean I would ever become your servant, or even contractor. No, that would not be freedom, would it? But, I would consider, and even be willing, to remove certain people that threaten Konoha, if they truly deserve it. I'm sure you've heard of the destruction of a mercenary ring, a mere week or so ago? They were not as good as one might think; these assassins did not believe anyone would want to assassinate _them_..."

Danzou nodded impressed. There had been many killed and yet noone could find a link or clue. "I see... having one of your... longevity and unique characteristics would be... very advantageous... Elrad Duali-san..."

To his pride, Naruto didn't even bat an eyelash at the name. "So you know _that_ detail... I know you are not a fool Danzou-san, so remember not to spread it anywhere yet. In time, I will reveal the truth, but for now I am just Namikaze Naruto, an exceptionally good assassin without chakra... I would be saddened to have to remove people from the world for merely knowing a name they shouldn't yet... I hope your ROOT are as tight-lipped as you, lest we have trouble on our tails..."

Danzou smiled at Naruto, a smile of accepting someone not as a servant but as an equal, a rare smile indeed for the man. "Of course, it was merely a warning Elrad-san... As you make as good an enemy as an ally, so do I. It is in our mutual benefit that we do not move with hostility, is it not? I know you are more loyal to Konoha than you would admit, now. It is good to see the fools outside these walls couldn't curb your spirit."

Naruto huffed slightly at the mention of Konoha's greatest part of the populace. "Indeed, it is very, very fortunate..."

The pair discussed a bit more and in the end, Danzou had to leave. He was a busy man, but now he was quite pleased as well. While the Namikaze had no intention of becoming one of his tools, he was not mutinous. Unless Konoha did something _gravely_ idiotic, he would remain their ally, even after leaving.

In turn, Naruto sighed in relief as soon as the man left. Danzou might be a weak relic of the past, but there were two kinds of old men warriors. Old men who died fast and known as 'an old man'... and those who were so good that they were called '_that_ old man'. And, despite Naruto knowing that by the time he left, he would be strong enough to take even a Kage-level shinobi on, he was well aware that Danzou's power was not so much in his own skill, but rather in the fact he had cultivated a network of allies more extended than any Daimyo ever had. He was one of _those_ old men... He was dangerous and if Naruto wanted to leave in peace, he'd need him by his side. Who knows, maybe by the time he left, Danzou would have changed. A distant chance, but one he could aim for.

For now though, the elf decided to go back to training. Mikoto would always complain he just went through the same motions over and over again, but she didn't see things as he did; every time he changed something in the forms of his enemies, even if they were taller or shorter by a few inches would change the outcome of the battle. So Naruto would go through each and every kata of each and every style he had learned, each time calculating for minute changes that, in the obsessed elf's mind at least, changed the fight completely.

Three years later, Naruto stood before the Sandaime Hokage. His chuunin vest, colored a dark marroon color, barely concealing his weapons. And there were tens of them, maybe even dozens. Kunai, shuriken, be they as a spike or a star, throwing knives, long knives, a pair of kodachi, a whip, a pair of hand crossbows, senbon, explosives, paper form and not, alchemical creations of most any type, his trusty shortstaff... Naruto had used sealing and magical items from Firavel's store to become a walking armament. It was a joke amongst the shinobi of Konoha that there was no inch of Naruto that wasn't hiding or concealing a weapon. It wasn't true of course, but Anko would gleefully and suggestively disagree.

In the three years that have passed, Naruto had perfected several techniques, be they purely physical or utilizing the sublime ki he had pushed himself beyond insanity to acquire. He used it mostly in the form of physical reinforcement or shadow-based and shadow-originating attacks. Though, he had acquired some abilities that would be considered downright magical and even imposing on some clans' techniques. Naruto had been very prudent to not leave a witness to their existence, knowing that many would use it as a reason to put him under their command. Of course, he also considered the link between shadow elves and the Nara clan, but at best it was a possibility of common power origin rather than something concrete.

Mikoto had come closer to the shadow elf as well. Using her bakery as a hideout from his ever-increasing fangirls, as well as getting a chance to talk with someone who, if not understood him, at least he could speak with freely, had enabled the two to talk a lot. Mikoto was still grieving for her murdered clan, but she had moved on a great deal, she no longer suffered night terrors, though she was glad to notice that there were few nights that Naruto didn't sneak into her room to make sure. She began showing more cues to her affection, dropping the suffix from his name, hugging him back often, offering him help in more than one ways, she tried to be near him and she knew the elf also realized it. She could easily understand his hesitating however, he was virtually immortal compared to her. He would live for ages while she would grow old and die in mere decades. Heck, he would be considered a mere adolescent by the time even her bones would be dust. How could he then claim a relationship with her, when he would be bound to leave her behind? It was exactly that honorable commitment of his that Mikoto sometimes wished it didn't exist. Then again, she was quick to realize, she wouldn't have liked him nearly as much if it wasn't him.

On the other side was Anko. She was a troubled person. Even though the trauma from Orochimaru had long since healed, as much as it ever would that is, it still had left her a bit... unstable. The truth is, quite simply, that she had hid herself so much behind a mask that she became her mask. She lost track of where 'real Anko' and 'badass Anko' was and meshed them into one. Considering that Naruto had suffered as much, if not more, as her, she held on to him as some sort of idol, a beacon of sanity against her own insanity. Yes, the woman knew she was insane, she knew that many of the things she did she really didn't want to do, she knew that her hobbies were often self-imposed punishments, but she couldn't stop them. She couldn't stop doing it, she couldn't follow the 'right path' because of her own weakened sanity. But Naruto... the boy, elf, whatever... he could, and in him doing it, she pulled herself out of whatever mire of insanity she had long since thrown her soul into. Just being near him, just seeing him, and the woman could feel herself calm, feel her very soul purge and clean, she could feel her sanity overcome her insanity. So, if the only way to ensure she'd be near him forever was by becoming his girlfriend, wife, concubine, she would do so in an instant.

The last loyal male Uchiha, namely Sasuke, had grown a lot as well. Between Mikoto helping him, Inoichi counceling him and Naruto beating the ever-important lesson of humility in him, he had matured far more than otherwise possible. He still wanted Itachi dead, but not because it was some twisted form of revenge for his brother's betrayal, but because it was his duty and the fact that Itachi had to be brought to justice, lest he threaten others. Sasuke still considered his family to be honorable and just, but he also knew that he had a much greater ideal to live up to; that of a true Konoha, where all would be equal and differentiated only by their talents. Where one clan would not be better than the other to merely blood traits or large coffers. And he would be the first to set that example, by bringing in his excommunicated brother, alive, and humbly apologizing for his transgressions. He _would_ show them that Uchiha had a position of respect because they were the ones best suited for it, not because they bribed or forced their way there. It was his own form of honor.

At the moment however, the shadow elf that had changed several lives was awaiting for his meeting with the Hokage. Around him, several jounin and chuunin were talking animatedly, awaiting for the new gennin teams to be announced. The boy smirked, unseen. He had managed to manipulate events to get Kakashi out of the village for a bit. Even though he was a respected jounin, and very skilled when necessary, Naruto doubted he would teach his team anything. And with his team having the last Uchiha, since it was only him that could train the boy, the elf had to make arrangements; get the man out of the village so he could train the team enough for the man's tactics to work on them. Otherwise, Kakashi's hands-off teaching methods would hinder and possibly kill them. And _that_ he would _not_ allow. Not only would all his efforts into training the boy go to waste, but Mikoto would be heartbroken.

Finally, the aged Kage walked in the room, several folders in his hands, followed by one of Naruto's old Academy teachers, Umino Iruka. The scarred chuunin nodded to the boy in respect, the Namikaze had earned it. He was chuunin in name only, several bingo books already listed him as jounin-level. He had earned every drop of his skills with sweat, blood and tears against odds that made the teacher cringe. To have almost literally clawed his way up from the village outcast, parriah and most despised person to one of the greatest chuunin the village had. He had at least earned the respect he was now receiving.

If only it hadn't taken the boy's cheerful nature and childhood away to do it. Iruka could swear that these eyes that sometimes looked at him from the Namikaze's face were inhuman, no human could ever be that... impossible to read.

"So," Began the village leader, shaking Iruka from his musings. "here are the Academy graduates. Some of them have already been sorted into teams according to their talents and skills, but most of them are pretty much up to discussion. Before you start, Uchiha Sasuke is going to be placed under Kakashi, the only other bearer of the Sharingan in this village so pick another one. Which begs the problem, where is Kakashi?"

Naruto took a step forward. "His presence was necessary for a mission Hokage-sama, remember? If it would please you, I could take over the team until Kakashi-senpai returns however. We all know how... off hands he can be. It may be best that I, or someone else, were to teach the boy and his team for a little while, get them to the point where Kakashi-senpai's off-hands teachings actually work rather than crippling them. There is also the fact that I am far closer to the team's age than any other in this room, it would be easier for them to connect and trust me."

A random jounin spoke up, interrupting the Namikaze. "Hey, why should _you_ get the honor of teaching the Uchiha?"

"Exactly because of that, fool. Because it is _not_ an honor to me, which means that not only will I be more fair towards him and his team, but also I am not afraid to punch the boy around to drive a point home. Besides, whoever gets to teach Sasuke must have no other team to teach _and_ spend as much time as it takes for Kakashi-senpai to return before even considering to take a mission. And, if my calculations are correct, this could take a few months. Admittedly, amongst us all, I am the most qualified for that; neither am I a needed jounin-sensei, which means that I can in fact not teach a bunch of children without significant reduction to the village's future shinobi population, but also I have the funds and means to properly support myself throughout the stretch of time I will be unable to take on a mission. Even _you_ would admit it makes sense."

Sarutobi sighed and thought about it, ignoring the sputtering jounin in the back. "Well, Naruto-kun does make a point. Besides, he has already proven that jutsu are not everything, something that young shinobi need to learn as fast as possible. It would be a good influence for his team. Very well, notion approved, Namikaze Naruto is now named temporary chuunin-sensei of Sasuke's team..."

"If I may Hokage-sama?" Said Naruto. "I am not a teacher as much an instructor. I am _not_ going to teach them techniques or fancy moves. I am going to teach them enough to actually benefit from Kakashi-senpai's teaching methods. Naming me a teacher is too much, sir."

The old man chuckled at Naruto, he managed to make his position seem far less important than it really was. Clever boy. "Very well. Is there anything else you may want to add Naruto-kun?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. I would also like this probationary teaching of mine be studied and researched upon. If it works out, it may be a good idea for a similar system to be used for other teams as well. It would make little sense for jounin to be taken out of mission capability for several months until their gennin are up to par. If instead, we could get a few chuunin to provide them with mission experience..."

"But that's what the Academy is for; chuunin teaching future gennin!" Interrupted Iruka, rather miffed.

"No, the Academy is a great place to learn theories and safely practice. As a way to get actual experience, it is pathetic. I have already, in fact, filed a suggestion where Academy students would be made into groups of three and doing D-ranked missions, with the teams rotating every few weeks, so the best teams are formed and the gennin have some actual experience, but the council overrode me. But the point remains; having a jounin do D-ranked missions is wasteful, especially while we have several dozens of good chuunin doing things as 'important' as gathering trash or patrolling the houses of the 'esteemed' members of Konoha's 'great' council."

Yes, it was a known fact that Naruto disliked the Council. While he admitted it was necessary, he also believed they had far too much influence. The council should be for the people, not the people for the council. Everyone and their mother now had a seat there and received heavy financial benefits at the cost of Konoha's welfare. Finances for doing absolutely _nothing_. Nothing except infighting and trying to set the other up for a fall anyway. More than a few of them had even tried to take his clan rights from him under the 'justification' that he wasn't a true Namikaze heir since he didn't have any chakra. Unfortunately for them, Naruto's extraordinary stealth skills had allowed him to get enough dirt on them that sent them to prison without a trial.

With most of the talking gone, the meeting progressed rather quickly. After all, most jounin, who were still rather unknown in the shinobi world and trying to make a name for themselves at the level of other legends like Kakashi, had been trying to get Sasuke on their team, so they could say they were the last Uchiha's teacher. It was sickening to the few true jounin in the room, such as Aoba, Kurenai, Hayate, Asuma and Gai. In fact, it was almost insulting.

Naruto got the folder of the team and opened it to see the composition of the team, though he shouldn't be outside his calculations. He had gotten Sasuke and a civilian-born girl Haruno Sakura. Apparently there hadn't been enough new gennin fresh out of the Academy.

But why would the old man leave one person less, two if he counted the civilian girl as being weak, in a team as important as Sasuke's? Unless... Of course, that clever, scheming old man! Sakura had probably entered the Academy to be with the Last Uchiha; it was the new trend after all. Which would mean that her first encounter with the real, bloody, shinobi world would leave her broken enough to be taken out of the team. Meanwhile, he would also have lined up several other, proper this time, candidates to fill in for second and third team members, probably older gennin who lost their teams or were flunked in the Chuunin Exams to other's faults.

Yes, that way, coupled with placing an overprotective jounin-sensei such as Hatake Kakashi, he would ensure Sasuke's safety. The other team-members would seek to protect the Uchiha scion as they would have known the pain of loosing your team and Kakashi had _never_ let a comrade die if he could help it, not since his first jounin mission anyway.

And now, to go give that boy a 'nasty' surprise.

Just as Iruka walked out the classroom, every prospective ninja in there ignored everything he had told them and turned to create ruckus, excited their 'hell on earth' was over and they could start exciting things now. Well, almost everyone, Sasuke stared blankly ahead, his mind deep in thought but not out of a particular trouble. He knew that whatever was going to happen would happen. Freaking out because of it was pointless, it would only give a bad image to your future teacher. Besides, he had more important things to do.

Like humming. Humming sounded a pretty good way to pass the time. Making new melodies and flow and just changing the tune and pitch of your hum in random-seeming but still somehow melodical ways.

Then his eyes suddenly snapped open and dove to the side.

The reason being rather simple; a kunai had been thrown right where his head was!

A few strands of hair indicated that his dodge was almost too late. His right hand reached out and he bounced off the wooden table, just milimeters away from the face of one of his many fangirls and he flipped through the air before landing low like a cat, one of his own kunai somehow slidding out of the long sleeves of his shirt. He was quite proud of that shirt, or rather what tricks it hid.

While the rest of the class was still in stupor at what had happened, Sasuke looked around frantically, for _him_.

"Where are you looking at Sasuke?" A calm, regal voice came from behind him and the boy spun to block, though not before retrieving another kunai for his other hand.

"Naruto-onii-sama!" Said Sasuke sounding almost incredulous, shocking many a classmate with the respect he showed. "What the hell are you doing, attacking me all of a sudden! Couldn't you even warn me before?"

"Would an assassin warn you? Besides, I'd been standing on that window for several seconds. Has your awareness been reduced? Do I have to train you again?" He asked, an eyebrow raising slowly.

To the entire room's shock, Sasuke went ashen pale. "No! No! Anything but that! I'll be more aware from now on!" It sounded as if he was scared for his life as he slipped his kunai back up the sleeves of his shirt. Dark blue shirt and pants, lined with pockets. Over them, a black vest with the Uchiha insignia, it took lined with various pockets. No visible weapons or noticeable bulges, but he carried several dozens disposable weapons, wore light armor beneath it all and had implemented several of Naruto's inventions. Kunai launchers, hidden over the arms, with the weapon's ring tied with ninja wire, useful for throwing it and changing its direction while also making recovering much less of a pain.

What he didn't know, of course, was that the 'inventions' were based off blueprints dound in Firavel's book. They needed a bit of altering, naturally, but it was no big deal. Getting the boy out of his original 6-year-old clothes and into something more practical, like shinobi boots that supported the leg and provided for even more room for hidden weaponry, had been infinitely harder.

Even Naruto had changed his attire, removing the chuunin vest now that he was away from possible inspections and therefore not having to stick to dress regulations nearly as much. His color palette, consisting of marroon, dark purples, grays, silvers and blacks hadn't changed. What he wore though had; soft leather boots, tucked under high-quality loose pants and a shirt only buttoned up halfway over a simple shirt and a medallion of a silver moon crossed with a sword. On his left shoulder he kept a half-cloak that concealed his arm and gave him a mysterious look. Not to mention held several secrets of its own, such as seals, a metal byweave and even sharp blades at the lower hem, things that made it a weapon or shield if the need arose. His thick belt, previously used to carry various weapons, now was hidden beneath a wide, weighted sash, that he could easily dispose of.

"Anyway, what are you doing _here_ of all places nii-sama?" Asked Sasuke. "I'm waiting for my sensei, as well as a reason as to why I only have one team-mate rather than two."

Naruto nodded at the boy as he hoped off the desk with nary a sound, not that many would notice seeing as how several girls realized he was the fabled 'Namikaze-sama' and were trying to decide whether they should stick with 'Sasuke-kun' or change targets to the older male. "I'm here for you and one Haruno Sakura in fact. Kakashi-senpai is off in a mission, I was selected to train you until he returns. As for your team, it will be completed later on, probably with an older gennin. Besides, now..." Here Naruto's eyes turned mischievously evil and made Sasuke gulp. "now I can train you as I originally intended."

Spotting his older teacher, Iruka, entering, Sasuke raised his hand almost timidly. "Sensei, is it too late for me to resign from becoming a shinobi?"

"What are you talking about Sasuke-kun? Of course it is!"

"But it's not too late to resign is it?" The look of shattered hope in Sasuke's eyes was almost comical.

"Of course it is, why are you acting like that?" Asked the weirded out teacher.

"Because!" Shouted Sasuke as he seemed to slink away from his 'older brother figure'. "Because nii-sama is insane! He's going to kill me! I mean it!"

"Oh come on Sasuke-kun!" Said Sakura. "I'm sure you're just exaggerating, Namikaze-sensei seems quite... nice?" She finished quentioningly once she actually saw the look of torturous malice and almost audible promise of pain and suffering that emanated from Naruto's eyes. "... or not... B-but he can't be that bad can he?"

"Me? Bad?" Questioned Naruto innocently, though his aura of evil still lingered on him.

"Yes, you! You crazy brother!" Shouted Sasuke. "You trained me in awareness by launching kunai at me without warning or sneaking into my room while I was _sleeping_!" He exclaimed. "And then... then you had that psycho, Anko, 'train' me in evasion! I almost got eaten by her snakes!"

"I know, _I_ told her to do it." He said ignoring the incredulous looks. "But you survived didn't you? Besides, how do you expect to grow if not by being placed against enemies who are slightly stronger than you and then breaking your own limits by adapting? And here I thought you were serious in your desire to becoming the strongest."

_'How can I become the strongest if I'm _dead_?'_ Sasuke asked himself, but he knew that an argument with Naruto was a lost cause, almost by definition.

"Now, I believe you and your team mate are ready to leave?" Said the chuunin, quickly adopting his usual more aristocratic speech pattern. "We're wasting time and we have to get to our training grounds."

"N-nii-sama?" Asked Sasuke. "D-don't tell me, you were serious about training me seriously?"

"Of course. I wouldn't lie about something like that. Until now Mikoto always limited me on how... intense... my training would be. But now you are a ninja and it is my responsibility to train you and Haruno-san over there to be as strong as possible."

As the two gennin followed their new teacher out, Sasuke could only think one thing; _'Oooh...crap...'_

The reason was obvious to the Uchiha heir. Naruto's 'lax' training methods included the boy strengthening his calves by balancing only on the balls of his feet on a stair or rock, meaning his entire body weight fell on his feet and in particular some of the least-trained muscles in the entire body. Of course, to 'maintain balance', Naruto had Sasuke place his arms at a 90degree angle on the elbows, palms up... and then placed weights on his hands. Which meat that, while a good training for Sasuke, it also _hurt like hell_.

And lo and behold, Sasuke's fears came true. The reason being that they reached one of Naruto's external training facilities.

As soon as the group of three entered the warehouse, they noticed how dark it was, since Naruto had shut all windows. Then, the chuunin went to the side and flipped a switch.

Loud 'clacking' noises answered the switch as lights were turned on and both Sasuke and Sakura gulped.

Fires roared, blades scythed out, spikes rose up and huge stones ground in the most terrifying 'run' they could imagine. "Welcome to my Training Room number 5. This is actually the mid-setting, we'll start with the low setting. It removes the fires and spikes."

_'We're gonna die...'_

"But that's wait for another day. For now, we must train your bodies first."

Half an hour later found Sasuke doing situps. They were hard, since he wasn't used to them at all, so he tried to complain. He really, _really_ shouldn't have. Because the moment he opened his mouth, Naruto seemed to realize something.

"Ah of course! I forgot! You can't keep your balance like that. Stretch your arms forward Sasuke and keep the palms up." When the poor, poor boy did that... Naruto placed a pair of steel orbs on the palms. "There, counterweighs, better, right?" That _infuriatingly naive_ smile on Naruto's face made Sasuke want to strangle his older brother, he was mocking him! Him, an Uchiha! His own little brother! Then he found a pair of leather bands on his arms, just before his shoulders, with a curved spike under. "And that's to remind you not to drop your arms. Work diligently hard now, alright _Sasuke-kun_?" Now that sickly-sweet smile made poor Sasuke gulp.

When Naruto turned to look at Sakura, the poor girl almost turned tail and ran, but her chuunin trainer grabbed her by the shoulder. "If you want to run _that_ much, wait a bit, got to place your weights on first." Several clicks later and Sakura was loaded with weighted bands on her legs and feet. "Alright, _now_ you can start running. Oh, and make sure to dodge the shuriken!"

Sakura wanted to question 'what shuriken', but she got her answer quickly enough... when Naruto began throwing the archetypal ninja weapons at her...

In various places all over Konoha, several newly-minted gennin had the strangest feeling... like they suddenly weren't so envious of a certain pair of people...

**A/N: Sorry for the delay and the chapter's low quality, what with all the time skips. I apologize but I had to cut the chapter in four, five pieces as I got drafted for army service, which I hate. It killed my Lady Inspiration and I can't even get some leave to write! Because, even when I **_**do**_**, there's five-year old kids screaming about DotA, LoL, HoN, CS and every other 'in' game (including MOHAA, yes some people dug it out from somewhere and it's become a usual game again, somehow). I hope I'll manage to squeeze one more chapter out before shore leave ends...**


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